Antibiotic resistance – argumentative essay

Even though antibiotics treat almost all the bacterial diseases in the world, antibiotic
resistance becomes year by year greater and greater problem. Super bugs resistant to all antibiotics
are nowadays rising the expenses for public healthcare and might be the biggest killer in 2050’,
because first choice drugs are not effective anymore. All of this also caused by irresponsible use of
antibiotics by patients and doctors who are used to prescribing antibiotics too often.

Bacteria by different mechanisms are losing their sensitivity to antibiotics. These bacteria,
resistant to standard first choice drugs such as penicillin, cephalosporines etc. which are relatively
cheap, now require treatment by aminoglycosides or carbapenems, which are expensive and c an be
administered only in hospitals. For example, staphylococcus aureus in 1950’ was sensitive to
penicillin, but now is resistant to methicillin or even vancomycin, which costs about 1000 USD for one
treatment. That is why we need bacteria to be sensitive to first choice drugs.

Every year new species of bacteria become resistant to all or to majority of antibiotics.
Acinetobacter baumanii formerly a bacterium present in soil or water has gained resistance and is
now spreading uncontrollably causing nosocomial infections treatable only by 2 extremely aggressive
and expensive antibiotics. Every year in Europe die 25000 people from infections caused by these
multidrug resistant bacteria. The only way to reduce this number is to limit the use of antibiotics only
to the patients with no other option.

On the other hand, doctors are still prescribing antibiotics for common cold or flu as if
nothing has really happened. Patients also sometimes force the doctors into prescribing antibiotics.
In addition, some of them are taking left-overs that they have saved from previous treatments. The
doctors don’t realize the consequences of their acts and neither do the patients. Or they just do not
care about the public health so much that they would not take ‘’that one pill, that helps me when my
throat is sore’’. For instance, during the campaign of antibiotic week some people reported, that they
collect the left-overs from colleagues and relatives. This is all irresponsible and more health
professionals need to spread awareness to make people realize the risks of unreasonable use of
antibiotics. Therefore, one can assume that if people knew that common cold is not treatable by
antibiotics nor is it shortening the length of how long they would feel sick, the total amount of
antibiotics would drop significantly. Thus, by rising awareness we could be able to treat bacterial
infections even after 2050’.

In conclusion bacterial diseases will surely be a huge problem in the future, but by reducing
the usage of antibiotics, when they are not needed and by combining this approach with the use of
only the first choice drug which is the bacterium sensitive to, we might be able to retain some
effectivity for antibiotics. Also by sharing the knowledge about resistance and thereby raising the
awareness in population, people will reduce the ineffective use and will force the doctors into more
conscientious prescription of antibiotic drugs. This all will lead to reduction of expenditures in public
healthcare systems and lower death rates.

Jiří Doubek