Superbug to the Rescue???

Yeah, superbugs are not coming to the rescue anytime soon… or ever. The only super these bugs are are super big problems. Last week we talked about vaccines and how we can prepare our bodies to fight off some gnarly infections. This week we’re going to discuss what happens when absolutely nothing works and it’s all because of these horrible horrible superbugs. Basically, a superbug is a microorganism that has evolved and developed so that it is resistant to antibiotics- basically making it to where we can’t get better by taking medicine. This is where survival of the fittest really comes into play (no, not us humans, the bacteria). Superbugs happen when we take antibiotics incorrectly, whether that be to treat an infection that the antibiotics cannot treat, taken too much, not finishing a prescription, or not taking the medicine when they tell you to. These are all common mistakes that I’m sure we’ve all made, but let’s discuss why its so bad that this happens and where our future is headed.

Like I was saying before, we can make a lot of mistakes with prescribed antibiotics when it comes to developing superbugs, but it might not be direct contact with the antibiotics that are creating resistance. Pediatrics Dr. Katherine Shea discuses that millions of pounds of antibiotics are used in the agricultural industry to treat animals set for consumption. The meat that we are consuming is exposing our bodies to antibiotics we don’t even realize we’re taking and allow our cells to develop resistance to some seriously harmful diseases. With kids and their developing immune systems, that’s even more likely risk for contracting diseases like Salmonella. With all the shady scandals of the agriculture industry and can be hard to discern if even the products labeled ‘antibiotic free’ are real. We discussed in class that animals can be considered ‘antibiotic free’ if their system is clear of antibiotics when slaughtered, so the animals are actually consuming antibiotics up until about 2 weeks before chopping time. Switching to vegetarianism is one approach that I could suggest, but otherwise I would be aware of where that meat is coming from next time you go to the grocery store.

If you’re wondering what kind of diseases to look out for, our good old friends at the CDC keep an updated list on what to watch out for. The list contains topics that show what is a current issue and what they are expecting in the future. These impending dooms are recorded all around the world. The diseases of biggest concern seem to be MRSA, Tuberculosis, and Staphylococcus aureus, among others. With the severity that these diseases are and the incidence levels rising, it could not be a worse time for bacteria to transform into superbugs that cannot be treated. My take on preventing this from happening to you is to only take antibiotics when necessary, follow the instructions carefully, and stop buying sketchy meats because the animal itself might not kill you but it could be an underlying cause of an illness related death later on.