Biology; Superbugs
The Rise of the Superbugs
A Superbug is a bacterium that can live in the human body and has the ability to withstand all forms of antibiotic medication. Superbugs are becoming increasingly significant in modern medicine as they are becoming more and more resistant to antibiotics. Antibiotics were discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming (Walsh and McManus, 2000). This resulted in a huge movement forward in medical history and even greatened human life expectancy. Since then antibiotics have been widely used and abused, people began to treat everything with this ‘miracle’ drug. If antibiotics are continually used as bacteria grows exponentially more resistant to them then eventually society will fall back into an era without the readily use of antibiotics. Fortunately the superbug is not currently immune to all antibiotics as some forms of antibiotics can still treat the bacteria. In years to come the superbug will become increasingly hazardous to mainstream society as it grows faster than scientists can create medication for.
Bacteria are the main source for all diseases and deaths worldwide and have been on earth for billions of years, much longer than humans. Bacteria were first discovered by a Dutchman named Anton van Leeuwenhoek in the 1660’s but it wasn’t until the 1850’s that bacteria was regarded as the main cause of disease. Because bacteria have been around for so long it has evolved to adapt to most environments to withstand any other organisms. In the 1930’s Alexander Fleming, Ernst Chain and Howard Florey discovered an antibody which could destroy most bacteria and assist to fight infectious diseases. Many experiments were completed to understand the full impact antibiotics had on humans and how much was needed to rid someone of disease. Drug companies began to mass produce Antibiotics as a means of curing infections and diseases, but only a few years later scientists began to observe the bacteria’s resistance to antibiotics. Like most environments,
A Superbug is a bacterium that can live in the human body and has the ability to withstand all forms of antibiotic medication. Superbugs are becoming increasingly significant in modern medicine as they are becoming more and more resistant to antibiotics. Antibiotics were discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming (Walsh and McManus, 2000). This resulted in a huge movement forward in medical history and even greatened human life expectancy. Since then antibiotics have been widely used and abused, people began to treat everything with this ‘miracle’ drug. If antibiotics are continually used as bacteria grows exponentially more resistant to them then eventually society will fall back into an era without the readily use of antibiotics. Fortunately the superbug is not currently immune to all antibiotics as some forms of antibiotics can still treat the bacteria. In years to come the superbug will become increasingly hazardous to mainstream society as it grows faster than scientists can create medication for.
Bacteria are the main source for all diseases and deaths worldwide and have been on earth for billions of years, much longer than humans. Bacteria were first discovered by a Dutchman named Anton van Leeuwenhoek in the 1660’s but it wasn’t until the 1850’s that bacteria was regarded as the main cause of disease. Because bacteria have been around for so long it has evolved to adapt to most environments to withstand any other organisms. In the 1930’s Alexander Fleming, Ernst Chain and Howard Florey discovered an antibody which could destroy most bacteria and assist to fight infectious diseases. Many experiments were completed to understand the full impact antibiotics had on humans and how much was needed to rid someone of disease. Drug companies began to mass produce Antibiotics as a means of curing infections and diseases, but only a few years later scientists began to observe the bacteria’s resistance to antibiotics. Like most environments,