A TedEd by Gerry Wright
Antibiotics are some of the most important drugs in modern medicine. We commonly use them to fights infectious diseases. But they make many other things possible, from surgery to chemotherapy and organ transplants. But they are becoming less effective. Many bacteria have developed resistance to antibiotics, some having full resistance to every drug available. We've also stopped creating new drugs. The first antibiotic was penicillin, discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming. He warned that overuse of these would ruin their miracle. Between the 1940s and 80s, resistant bacteria appeared, which pharmaceutical companies countered with new drugs. This was very successful, as well as profitable. However, many of these were only effective on a few types of bacteria, and antibiotics were being prescribed more and more carefully. As a result, the industry became less profitable. So, antibiotic discovery stopped, while bacteria continued to gain resistance. To combat this, we need to regulate existing antibiotics, create new ones, fight resistance, and find new ways to beat bacteria. The agricultural community uses the most antibiotics, often to treat animals. This gives diseases like salmonella more chances to become resistant. In nature, many new antibiotics can be found. For example, many fungi have bacterial resistance because they need it to survive in their environment. Furthermore, existing antibiotics can be given defense against degrading mechanisms that bacteria use to fight them. This allows antibiotics to stay alive long enough to fight the disease. The biggest factor in this is funding. Since antibiotics are no longer profitable and countries don't support companies that make them, discovery of new ones in inhibited. There are ways to solve this, however. For instance, the UK is testing a strategy where healthcare providers buy antibiotic subscriptions. But whatever we do, we need to make sure antibiotics can continue to be used.
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