Biology Assignment: Exploring Antibiotic Resistance and Evolution

This biology assignment explores the phenomenon of antibiotic resistance, detailing its origins and evolution. The assignment begins by defining antibiotic resistance as the loss of an antibiotic's ability to control bacterial growth, a natural consequence of natural selection. It explains how the overuse of antibiotics has led to resistant strains and highlights the existence of resistance genes even before the widespread use of antibiotics. The assignment then delves into the role of human behavior, such as self-medication and non-compliance with treatments, in contributing to the problem. The second part of the assignment focuses on prevention strategies, referencing WHO guidelines that emphasize the importance of appropriate antibiotic prescription and dispensing. It stresses the need for healthcare providers to prescribe the correct drugs at the correct doses and duration. The assignment also suggests individual actions, such as complying with prescribed treatments, questioning the need for antibiotics, and practicing good hygiene, including handwashing, to slow the spread of resistant bacteria. The assignment highlights the role of soap and hand sanitizers as effective hygiene practices.

Running Head: Assignment Organ Systems and Evolution
Assignment
Organ Systems and Evolution

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Part 1
Antibiotic resistance happened when an antibiotic lost its control of limiting or killing the
bacterial growth (Stewart and Costerton, 2001). It’s a natural phenomenon by which certain
bacteria becomes resistant towards the particular antibiotic. Natural selection is well documented
in bacteria, and the continuous use of antibiotics has evolved them to be resistant towards them
decline in antibiotic ability to control them. The antibiotic resistance genes exist even before
humanity started using antibiotics since those bacteria which produces antibiotic are itself
resistant towards them. These genes are conserved and even found in bacteria that doesn’t
produce antibiotics (Gupta et al., 2014). Due to the natural selection as the first time antibiotic is
used most of the bacteria were killed but some survived due to functional antibiotic resistance in
them that allow them to withstand it somewhat effects. Now those who have survived the
damage done by antibiotic adapt to deal with this particular situation, and over the time they will
continue to multiply. People unknowingly contribute the antibiotic resistance. For example,
patients undergo self-medication and noncompliance with the recommended treatment is the
chief cause of resistance. Self-medication is always combined with ill time, inadequate and
unnecessary antibiotic dosing while non-compliance occurs when an individual forgets to take an
appropriate dosing of medication.

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Part 2
The prevention and slow down of the spread of new antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria can be
done by employing certain actions as guided by WHO (Sprenger, 2015). The guidelines say that
prescription and dispensing of antibiotics should be done, only if the health practitioner is sure
that the prescribed antibiotic is effective in treating such disease. According to new studies, the
half of the sickness symptoms are contributed by viruses. By getting the prescription right, the
healthcare providers can control the antibiotic resistance. The prescription must have a right drug
in right doses and exact duration. Reassess after 48h that medicine is working or no. The
government must keep track of antibiotic resistance and regulate the use of appropriate
medications. As a person, we could help in slowing down the spread of antibiotic-resistant
microbes by complying with the treatments given by doctors and taking the antibiotic in doses
and duration as prescribed (CDC, 2014). We should always be liberal in asking whether some
tests are required to check antibiotics efficacy in the disease. The leftover medicines must be
discarded properly and do not share such medicines. By the sign that is commonly found in
restrooms, we regularly wash our hands with soap each time we go. This simple technique
avoids any hygiene associated risk and efficient in killing bacteria. Soap is a natural antibiotic
that doesn’t develop any antibiotic resistance, and hence it significantly reduces the disease
spread by cross contamination. Another option in place of soap is hand sanitizers which are
effective in killing bacteria without developing any antibiotic resistance.

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References
Gupta, S. K., Padmanabhan, B. R., Diene, S. M., Lopez-Rojas, R., Kempf, M., Landraud, L., &
Rolain, J. M. (2014). ARG-ANNOT, a new bioinformatic tool to discover antibiotic resistance
genes in bacterial genomes. Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, 58(1), 212-220.
Mission Critical: Preventing Antibiotic Resistance. (2014, April 28). Retrieved February 06,
2017, from https://www.cdc.gov/features/antibioticresistance
Sprenger, M. (2015, November 20). How to stop antibiotic resistance? Here's a WHO
prescription. Retrieved February 06, 2017, from
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/commentaries/stop-antibiotic-resistance/en/
Stewart, P. S., & Costerton, J. W. (2001). Antibiotic resistance of bacteria in biofilms. The
lancet, 358(9276), 135-138.