Superbugs

What, who, how?

Superbugs are bacteria that have become resistant to modern day antibiotics/drugs. Superbugs are very dangerous because they are resistant to all of our antibiotics therefore, we have no medication that can kill them. According to the World Health Organization, superbugs could cause 10 million deaths a year by 2050 if nothing is done. Superbugs are created when we misuse antibiotics. When you don’t finish your full prescription of antibiotics, or when you take antibiotics for the wrong type of infection you’re allowing bacteria to become resistant to that antibiotic. Some examples of bacteria that are becoming superbugs include: E.coli, Staphylococcus, Enterobacteriaceae, and C. diff.

Spreading

Superbugs are spread just like any other type of bacteria. Depending on the bacteria, it can be spread in a number of different ways. These infections can be spread through direct contact, indirect contact, fomites, droplets, etc. One of the best things you can do to prevent the spread of superbugs is hand washing/personal hygiene. A study done by the University of Michigan showed that 14% of 399 patients in a hospital had superbugs on their hands or nostrils; 33% of objects those patients normally touched also had superbugs on them.

More antibiotics?

Scientists have created 100’s of antibiotics over the past several years. They have come to a time in today’s society where they are struggling to find new things to create antibiotics with. They have started looking in viruses, the deep ocean, and even other planets for new antibiotic ingredients. The problem is, it takes about 10 years to make a new antibiotic, whereas it takes some bacteria 20 minutes to reproduce and only a few years to undergo evolutionary modifications. The process of making antibiotics is just not able to keep up with the development of new mutations in bacteria. Mass General’s Shenoy says that “Research shows that whenever a new antibiotic comes into use, we start to see the first resistant microbes emerge about a year later.” It also takes billions of dollars to create a new antibiotic.

You should be very concerned

You should be very concerned about these superbugs. I know I am! Honestly, superbugs are very scary to me! These bacteria are resistant to almost every medication we have available, so if we contract this infection, there is nothing any doctor can do about it. Some of these superbugs aren’t lethal but the ones that are are going to take over and kill the masses because we have nothing to stop them. Right now we can’t stop the ones that are already created but we can try to stop the emergence of more. We need to spread awareness of superbugs (quickly) and make sure that people are very careful when it comes to antibiotics and their misuse. The future of medicine is very promising so hopefully in the future scientists will be able to create more antibiotics against these superbugs.