Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, Second Edition

Patrick Guilfoile

Description

Doctors first used penicillin on a human patient in 1941. Since then, many bacteria have evolved resistance to antibiotics. Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, Second Edition describes pathogens that have become particularly adept at evading a wide range of antibiotics and highlights how scientists continue to strive to develop new treatments and countermeasures to fight this onslaught. Case studies and historical anecdotes are presented to provide context and aid in understanding the problems associated with antibiotic resistance. Various antibiotic-resistance scenarios of the future are outlined, as well as personal strategies individuals can use to reduce the likelihood of infection with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Chapters include:

• How Antibiotics Kill Bacteria


• Causes of Antibiotic Resistance


• Consequence of Antibiotic Resistance


• Most Dangerous Types of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria


• Strategies to Combat Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria


• Reducing the Risk of Antibiotic-Resistant Infection.

Sujets

• Santé au quotidien
• Santé au quotidien
• Bacteria
• Science
• Maladie infectieuse
• Fitness
• Health
• Antibacterial
• Medicine
• Infection
• Treatment
• Medical

Informations

• Publié par: Infobase Publishing
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438194073
• Langue: English

Extrait

Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, Second Edition
Copyright © 2019 by Infobase
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information, contact:
Chelsea House An imprint of Infobase 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001
ISBN 978-1-4381-9407-3
You can find Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at http://www.infobase.com
Contents Foreword Chapters Antibiotics How Antibiotics Kill Bacteria Antibiotic Resistance Causes of Antibiotic Resistance Consequences of Antibiotic Resistance Most Dangerous Types of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Strategies to Combat Antibiotic Resistance Future of Antibiotic Resistance Reducing the Risk of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Infection Support Materials Glossary About the Author About the Consulting Editor Index
Foreword
The outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in the early part of the 21st century highlighted the significance of infectious disease outbreaks in the world today:  from a Chinese medical doctor who had become ill while treating patients with a clinically severe pulmonary syndrome in his home province, who then traveled to Hong Kong and stayed overnight in a hotel with international guests, the coronavirus that caused SARS spread around the world. The outbreaks that resulted, mostly in highly  industrialized countries, were typical of emerging infections in today’s globalized world.  Not only are these outbreaks serious risks to human health—often causing high mortality—they also have an effect on economies.  Fortunately the SARS outbreak was fully contained within six months – with a death toll just over 800.  But the SARS outbreaks also caused a severe shock to economies in Asia where travel, trade, and tourism came to a virtual standstill. 
Following the SARS outbreaks the International Health Regulations (IHR)—international law developed in the late 1960s to attempt to stop infectious disease at international borders—were revised.  Today the IHR provide requirements for a global response should infectious diseases cross national borders, and more importantly they require all countries to develop the public health capacity to help detect and stop infectious disease outbreaks where and when they occur. 
During the time of the revision of the IHR the related concept of global health security became an important political issue worldwide.  Its importance was highlighted by the 2013—2014 Ebola outbreaks in West Africa. Like SARS, Ebola virus infection spread across national borders to neighboring countries, and to highly industrialized countries far from the African continent.
The concept of global health security for persons living in industrialized countries with equitable access to health services is clear—it is about reducing their vulnerability to infectious disease threats that spread across national borders. 
But in many ways health security is like a chameleon that changes color depending on its environment. In addition to the collective health risk caused by the international spread of Ebola virus infection, health workers in West Africa, some infected with the Ebola virus, and Ebola-infected persons from communities they served, were forced to accept that their health care was not always effective, and not always accessible—that their own, individual health security was at risk. And many persons infected with the Ebola virus in West Africa died because their weak health systems collapsed, and care was not available to them, nor was it available to children and others who had nowhere to seek care for common infections such as malaria and other highly fatal tropical diseases.
The intertwining of collective and individual health security is a concept that must remain high on the political agenda as the IHR continue to serve as a global framework for collective health security, and as the world focuses its attention on universal health coverage, the key to realizing individual health security. At the same time the impact of deadly infectious disease outbreaks, and other outbreaks such as those caused by infections resistant to antimicrobial drugs, will remain a threat to collective and individual health security. This series of Deadly Diseases and Epidemics describes the past and present, and forecasts the future. It is important reading for anyone concerned about the spread of diseases in modern society.

David L.  Heymann, M.D. Professor, Infectious Disease Epidemiology London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Chapters
Antibiotics
The first effective antibacterial agents, the sulfonamides, were developed in the 1930s and are still used today. These drugs only killed a limited number of bacterial species and had no effect on many important disease-causing microbes. The use of penicillin and other antibiotics, beginning in the 1940s, revolutionized the practice of medicine, because these drugs were able to stop many otherwise deadly pathogens (organisms that cause disease) in their tracks.
The Discovery of Penicillin
Sir Alexander Fleming was a microbiologist at St. Mary's Hospital in London. During the late 1920s he was studying an important human pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus . During the summer of 1928, Fleming went on an extended vacation, and he left some cultures of S. aureus in petri plates on his lab bench. When Fleming returned from his vacation, he briefly checked the plates that had been sitting out. Initially, he discarded the now-famous plate into a tray of disinfectant. Fortunately, he had such a large pile of discarded plates that they didn't all get submerged in the antibacterial liquid. A colleague then appeared in the lab, and to make a point, Fleming picked up the famous plate and happened to notice something unusual. On that plate a mold (now called Penicillium notatum ) had grown. Surrounding this fungus was a clear zone, where the S. aureus had been killed. Fleming had previously done work with other substances that killed bacteria, and he quickly recognized the significance of his observation. 1

Scottish biologist and pharmacologist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin from the mold Penicillium notatum in 1928.
Source: © Alamy. Pictorial Press Ltd.
Following his discovery, Fleming made some crude extracts of the material from the fungus and found that this material killed many different types of important pathogenic bacteria. He also found he could inject this crude penicillin extract into rabbits, and the rabbits weren't harmed. However, Fleming wasn't able to extract and purify a significant amount of penicillin, so his discovery languished for the next 10 years.
In 1938, three other English Scientists—Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, and Norman Heatley—started working on producing large amounts of penicillin. Despite the outbreak of World War II they had made substantial progress by 1941. By then, however, German planes were regularly attacking England, and there was concern that work on penicillin in Britain would be difficult under wartime conditions. Consequently, Florey and Heatley traveled to the United States to gain support for the large-scale production of penicillin and to assist with the process. A series of incremental improvements involving new fungal strains, better growth media, and other developments finally led to the production of enough penicillin to treat soldiers wounded in the D-Day invasion in 1944.
As early as 1941, Florey and Chain had isolated sufficient penicillin to test the antibiotic in a few patients. The first person treated with purified penicillin was Albert Alexander, a London policeman, who had cut his face and developed a severe bacterial infection. The rampant infection caused abscesses covering his head, which were so severe that they necessitated the removal of one eye. He was treated with sulfonamides, but with no effect. His fever was 105°F and he was close to death. Because of his grave state, permission was granted to Florey and Chain to give Mr. Alexander penicillin. After the first few doses, he quickly improved: his fever went down dramatically and he appeared to be recovering. However, penicillin was in very short supply, and after five days of treatment, the supply was exhausted. In the absence of the antibiotic, S. aureus started churning out toxins again, and Mr. Alexander died five days after the treatment ended. 2
The first use of penicillin in the United States was, however, fully successful. A young woman, Anne Miller, had a miscarriage and subsequently developed a streptococcal infection. She had been hospitalized for more than a month and her condition steadily deteriorated. Her fever spiked to over 106°F, and she was near death. Fortunately, one of her physicians knew a friend of Howard Florey, and through that friend managed to get a small amount of penicillin. Miller was given penicillin every four hours, but so little was available that the supply rapidly dwindled. Her urine was collected and sent to the Merck pharmaceutical company for processing, since about 70 percent of the original dose of penicillin could be recovered from the urine. This re-processed penicillin was used, and Ms. Miller survived, living for another 57 years before she passed away in 1999. Without penicillin, it is almost certain she would have have died in 1942. 3
Subsequently, penicillin became widely used for treating a range of bacterial diseases. Yet only 10 years later, in 1952, up to three-fifths of S. aureus infections in some hospitals were resistant to penicillin. This miracle drug was already becoming ineffective for treating some bacterial infections, less than 10 years after it became widely used.
Antibiotics are truly wonder drugs, and today they cure thousands of infected people each day. But what are they? Antibiotics