SUPER BUGS - WHAT EVERYBODY SHOULD KNOW? Sruthi Suresh Kumar, 2nd MBBS student

1. SUPERBUGS - WHAT EVERYBODY SHOULD KNOW?
Sruthi Suresh Kumar, 2nd MBBS student
Sree Gokulam medical college and research foundation, Trivandrum
Mentor and guidance of Dr. Ashish Jitendranath MD Associate professor
“The thoughtless person playing with penicillin treatment is morally responsible
for the death of the man who succumbs to infection with the penicillin-resistant
organism.”, Alexander Fleming, 1945.
Isn’t it fascinating that the very man who discovered antibiotics predicted the
destruction of mankind by the development of antibiotic-resistant organism
more than 70 years ago? So, what we have under the spotlight, Ladies and
Gentlemen is our very own, one of a kind, ‘Post- antibiotic Era’. And we, being
the very citizens of this era, are; with great pride; the founders too.
Let us discuss in brief a typical healthcare incident happening widely in India.
Let’s put in this scenario a young sick man, running nose, cough, as a viewer,
and as a self-proclaimed doctor, we assume he’s got a cold. Now we see him
walking up to a pharmacy. The young lad then discusses his recently befallen
misfortune (nothing personal, just his “cold”) to this man who handles the
pharmacy or as we common man call it, ‘The All-Knowing Pharmacist’, who may
or may not have the required qualification, but hey, who are we to judge? Now
this ‘Pharmacist’ asks him some general questions about his wellbeing, which
we would rather have with a doctor, and then gives him a few medications. The
man is happy. The pharmacist is happy. Our little bacteria, waiting to be
resistant to the drug, are happy. And thus, the story ends in a happy ending.
Beautiful, isn’t it, how we play an important role in making a bacterium happy?
This is an incident common to all of us. So then, whose fault is it? The all-
knowing pharmacist? The gullible young lad? This, my friends are what we must
investigate.
Antibiotics are commonly used as bactericidal (destroying the bacteria) or as
bacteriostatic (slowing down the bacteria). When these target organisms
combat the attack of the drug, it is termed as an antibiotic resistant. The more
antibiotics used the faster bacteria develop resistance. Why? That would mean
evolution, the same thing that differentiates us from Homo erectus. Antibiotics

2. insert a biological pressure on the bacteria, thus enhancing its development of
resistance.
Irrational use of drugs, misuse of drugs, over-dosing, under-dosing, self-
medication has all given birth to a new spectrum of bacteria. Due to
misconceptions often perpetuated by media and other, antibiotics are used in
viral infections such as colds. We take it for granted that most infections are
treatable with antibiotics, the result of which, some of these are becoming
untreatable. Administration of antibiotics in food-producing animals has
inevitably led to the increase in antibiotic-resistant organisms.
70 years ago Alexander Fleming warned us about the development of AMRs, yet
it was overlooked. Pipelines for discovering new antibiotics have diminished in
past 30 years and now run dry. And in about 20 years, we would walk back to
the 19th C when people died due to infections. We have been relying on the
same antibiotics for decades thus giving bacteria a better chance to evolve and
be resistant.
What must be done to combat AMR?
There must be a drastic change in the way of prescribing drugs by doctors and
using them by patients. We tend to be self-proclaimed doctors occasionally, due
to the abundant knowledge that flows to us from the very ‘Gurukul of Google’.
We have everything at our fingertips, that we prescribe medicines ourselves.
Obviously, once you know what the doctor always prescribes, why bother going
to the old man’s doors and troubling him? You could medicate yourself. Don’t
know the dose? Just Google it. After all, what doesn’t the Google know
What you must know is that every time you prescribe yourself a dose of
antibiotics for your cold, you’re ultimately being a carrier of multidrug-resistant
bacteria and that on a bigger picture affects an entire population. So, on the
shorter note, don’t prescribe your own medicines and complete the dose of
drug prescribed to you.
“If resistance to treatment continues to spread, our interconnected, high-tech
world may find itself back in the dark ages of medicine, before today’s miracle
drugs ever existed”, Dr. Spellburg.
The article was written and contributed by

3. Sruthi Suresh Kumar, Second-year MBBS student, Sree Gokulam medical college
and research foundation, venjaramoodu-Trivandrum, 695607
Mentor Dr. Ashish Jitendranath, Associate professor, department of
microbiology, Sree Gokulam medical college and research foundation,
venjaramoodu-Trivandrum, 695607
NOTE – This article is a part of the TALENT SEARCH ON MATTERS RELATED TO
INFECTIOUS DISEASE
We wish to support/publish the talents of new generation of Medical and
Nursing students to spread the scientific ideas to many in the world
Dr. Ranga Reddy
Dr.T.V.Rao.
Dr Dhruv
Sister Solbymol
Article will be available at Google + Linked in for benefit of many Students
Medical professionals in the world
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