Audience: Middle and High School Students
Common misconception: superbugs are stronger than regular bacteria. That is not necessarily true – they are just resistant to antibiotics. Photo by CDC from Unsplash.
Many of us have had strep throat before. You’ve probably experienced it as well, perhaps when you were an elementary or middle school student. Your school, filled to the brim with kids, was the perfect place for the infection to spread. You noticed that many of your classmates had called in sick and missed school. You soon began to feel under the weather yourself; you experienced a sore throat, followed by vomiting. You visited the doctor, got tested, and were diagnosed. Like in many of these cases, the doctor prescribed antibiotics. They worked well, and you soon recovered. However, what if the antibiotics were not effective? What if the doctors were forced to try harsher treatments? What if your infection was somehow resistant to antibiotics? This may seem far-fetched, only a rare case in thousands, but the truth is that millions are infected by superbugs.
Superbugs are multidrug-resistant pathogens: bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites that become resistant to standard treatment, such as antibiotics. These pathogens can become resistant for multiple reasons. The first is the inappropriate use of antimicrobials; pathogens can genetically adapt after multiple encounters with antibiotics. Additionally, sometimes the consumption of meat, produce, or water containing antibiotics can also build up resistance. Livestock are often treated with antibiotics, which can lead to resistance in consumers of meat. However, those with a meat-filled diet are not the only ones susceptible to being infected by superbugs. Anyone, anywhere can be affected.
While superbugs were already considered a major threat before COVID, the amount of superbugs and antimicrobial resistance increased acutely during the pandemic. COVID undid much of the progress being made regarding antimicrobial resistance. There is a simple reason for the direct connection: the amount of antibiotics used increased dramatically during the pandemic. There was not any real treatment available during the early stages of the pandemic. People were dying, so doctors and healthcare workers were working desperately to stop it, using all the tools available. They tried multiple methods, including antibiotics (even though they had no effect on COVID, which is a virus, not a bacterial infection). The statistics support this reasoning; according to the CDC, almost 80% of patients hospitalized from March to October 2020 received antibiotics. However, this had the unfortunate consequence of exacerbating the superbugs’ impact.
Even though many of the effects of COVID have dissipated, the threat is not over; the superbugs remain out in the world. They are still classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a serious threat to health worldwide. The threat will continue to grow – the UN Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance has estimated that by 2050, the mortality rate due to antimicrobial resistance may increase to an estimated annual death rate of 10 million people. While there are many types of superbugs that will be responsible for these mortalities, two common culprits are Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Candida auris (C. auris). MRSA is an antibiotic-resistant staph infection. It’s quite common, and alarmingly, is increasingly being seen outside hospitals. It has migrated from simply being hospital-acquired MRSA, as it originally was, to community-acquired MRSA. Community-acquired MRSA is not as strong, but can still cause significant damage. The CDC estimates that it causes more than 80,000 aggressive infections and 11,000 related deaths in the United States. C. auris is also a common superbug, a type of yeast that spreads among patients in healthcare facilities. It’s resistant to antifungal medications and can cause severe infections and illness. It’s not a risk for healthy individuals, but it can often infect patients with underlying health conditions by spreading through invasive medical devices. Both superbugs are infecting individuals at a concerning rate – superbugs as a whole cause 2.8 million infections per year.
However, all hope is not lost. Scientists are working on innovative solutions, since we’re running out of antibiotics faster than manufacturers are able to produce them. One solution is phage therapy. Interestingly, it was an idea introduced more than a century ago, even before penicillin in 1928. It uses bacteria-infecting viruses called bacteriophages to kill germs by invading their cells and splitting them open from the inside. It reaches the same end goal as another solution, CRISPR. CRISPR has become popular for its potential in the field of gene editing, and scientists think it could have some success with superbugs, too. It can go to a precise point in an invading bacterium’s DNA and cut the DNA there, like a pair of gene scissors. It is deployed using phages that infect the target bacterium.
Designer molecules are also similar to CRISPR in that they’re made in the lab and designed specifically to kill certain bacteria. Peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) are lab-made molecules that block bacterial cells from building proteins essential to their survival. To do this, they enter bacterial cells by latching onto other peptides that can pass through cell walls, then attach onto mRNA in order to carry out their task. Lysins are another type of designer molecule. They are enzymes that cut through the outer wall of a bacterial cell, killing it. Like PNAs, they are unlikely to promote resistance. Both types of designer molecules have a lot of potential and are currently undergoing clinical trials.
While all of these emerging solutions are very promising, scientists and experimental methods are not the only way to prevent infection. Health experts also recommend taking proper care of basic hygiene. Wash your hands with soap, handle food prep with care (including disinfecting utensils), take proper precautions if those around you are sick, don’t share personal items like towels and razors, and get recommended vaccinations. Remember to follow instructions when taking medicines and antibiotics: take them at the right time, don’t share them, and don’t use leftover prescriptions later. Most health organizations advise that you follow these basic rules in order to stay healthy and reduce your chance of getting infected.
Remember to heed this advice and do your part! Knowledge is power. You’re benefiting yourself and your health just by reading about superbugs. You don’t need to be overly paranoid, but exercise common sense and take the necessary precautions. By reducing the risk of contracting infections yourself, there’s also less of a risk that you’ll spread it to others. You can also help by funding research, spreading the word, and helping others stay informed on multidrug-resistant pathogens. Stay safe, and apply your knowledge wisely. Even taking a couple of seconds to wash your hands makes a difference.
Bibliography:
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