Hello everyone,
It's been a while since I have written anything. I had taken a longggggg break from blogs for some reasons.
However during the break, I was thinking of ways to connect my background as a Biologist with my passion of writing..because science is vast and beautiful, so why not writing about it and educate people about the science and how it is relatable to them, righttt?
So here I am.. But yeah, this article/blog would be a little formal, but I will try to make it as easy to understand as possible. Hehe...
P.S: Actually I have posted a post on this topic in my LinkedIn, but here I am reposting and elaborating the topics in deeper and fun way so people from different background can understand the concept too... 😀😉
Have you guys heard about AMR (Anti-Microbial Resistance)? 🤔
In general, AMR is an increasing recognized as one of the most serious global health problems worldwide. Unfortunately, it is something unheard of for years until it started to cause a huge medical issue.
So while reading recent scientific papers published in 2023-2024, I came across several studies that discusses AMR and they motivates me to share and summarize these findings here. 👩🎓
Do you guys know that in 2019, approximately 5 million deaths were associated with bacterial AMR, which shows how serious this issue already is. One large global study reported that AMR contributes to nearly 9% of all global deaths, with estimation of 1.27 million deaths directly caused by AMR infections in 2019. Even more concerning, researchers had predicted that AMR-related deaths could increase to 10 million per year by 2050 if no effective action is taken 😲 🤒 .
Recent studies have also shown that drug-resistant bacteria are widespread across different countries. For example, a multinational study involving the Netherlands, Italy, United States and India screened around 1200 patients. The results had shown that 83% of Indian participants carried multidrug resistant bacteria often referred to as superbugs. In addition, about 70% carried ESBL-producing bacteria which do not respond well to commonly used antibiotics. Superbugs are bacteria that are resistant to multiple types of antimicrobial drugs, making infections difficult to treat. 😷
What is AMR?
In simple terms, AMR happens when microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites no longer respond to the medicines designed to kill them. This means that infections become harder to treat and may last longer or become more severe.
- Technically, it means that AMR is a phenomenon, where consumption of antimicrobial products are no longer functioning as it was supposed to. For instance, you are having viral flu and perhaps, a doctor had prescribed you an antiviral, however it is not working as intended.
The reason?
Main reasons for this problem is the overuse or misuse of antibiotics, such as taking antibiotics for viral infections like the flu or buying antibiotics over the counter without proper medical advice. 💊 💊 💊. Including, heavy use of antimicrobials in agriculture.
- Yes, agriculture do use antimicrobials for multiple reasons:
- Preventing diseases among poultry animals
- As a single illness can wipe out and entire herd or flock.
- Promoting growth in animals
- Protecting the crops from diseases.
AMR can affect literally anyone, regardless of age, gender, or country. It is not only a human health issue but also a concern for food security and the environment as well, because antimicrobial drugs are widely used in agriculture and livestock production too. Importantly, AMR does not only involve antibiotics; it also includes antifungal, antiviral, and anti-parasitic resistance.
In easy words, resistance happens when microorganisms change in ways that help them survive drug treatment through mutation, changing target site, efflux of drugs, methylation or biofilm production and more.
Because of this, there is an urgent need to develop new antibiotics, antivirals, and alternative treatment strategies. However, research and development in this field remain limited. This makes AMR an important and relevant area of study for future research.
References:
· (2024). Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance 1990–2021: a systematic analysis with forecasts to 2050
· (2023). Antimicrobial resistance: a growing serious threat for global public health
AntiMicrobialResistance Pandemic AMR
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