Cyriac Job
Saranya Somasekharan Pillai
Abstract
Accidental discovery of the antibiotic properties of penicillin marked a watershed moment in healthcare, transforming the landscape of medicine and saving countless lives of injured and infected. Further research and awareness on the advantages of this “miracle drug” resulted in its bulk production in the 1940s, and played a crucial role in saving lives of thousands during World War II. Subsequent discoveries especially broad-spectrum antibiotics paved the way for further advancement but the misuse and over use of antibiotics lead in to drug resistance a distinct property the microbes can undergo. By 2013WHO recognised this and, in its report, accepted this as a global public health issue [1]. Not only WHO but many other organisations also realised this menace against men and animals and were in the process of producing newer drugs, arranging awareness programmes, proposing governess etc to overcome the related challenges. But the un presidential nature of COVID 19 pandemic pushed the world into a peculiar state of uncertainty. Scientific elite started discussing the cause and consequences. The awareness that, increased animal- human contact due to large scale agriculture, deforestation etc can result in the increase of zoonosis and this made us to take preventive measures in terms of over use of disinfectants etc. Pursuit of wealth overriding considerations of prudence, ethics, and risk seen in the post COVID era worsened this condition alarmingly. This paper discusses the brief history of antibiotics and its status and measures to be taken to address the challenges in the current scenario.
Keywords: antibiotic, antibiotic resistance, antibiotic governess, broad spectrum antibiotics, deforestation, microbes, post COVID era, pandemic and zoonosis.
[This article belongs to International Journal of Antibiotics(ijab)]
References
World Health Organization. Antimicrobial resistance global report on surveillance,2014 [cited 10.03.16]. Available at: https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/112642/?sequence=1accessed on 22-11-2023.
Fleming A. On the antibacterial action of cultures of a penicillium, with special reference to their use in the isolation of B influenza. Br J Exp Pathol.1929; 10: 226–36.
The History of the Development of Antibiotics. World of Microbiology and Immunology. com. http://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcriptsand-maps/history-development-antibiotics (Accessed on November 21,2023)
Aminov RI. A brief history of the antibiotic era: lessons learned and challenges for the future. Front Microbiol. 2010;1:134. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Holmes AH, Moore LSP, Sandford A, et al. Understanding the mechanisms and drivers of antimicrobial resistance. Lancet 2016; 387: 176–87.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Antimicrobial resistance surveillance in Europe. Annual report of the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net)—2014, [cited 18.02.16]. Available at: 〈http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications/ Publications/antimicrobial-resistance-europe-2014.pdf〉.
S. Department of Health and Human Services. Centres of Disease Control and Prevention. Antibiotic resistance threats in the United States, 2013 [cited 10.02.16]. Available at: 〈http://www.cdc.gov/drug resistance/pdf/ar-threats-2013-508.pdf〉.
Global action plan on antimicrobial resistance. 2015. http://www.who.int/drugresistance/global_action_plan/en/.
Tollefson, Jeff. 2020. Why deforestation and extinctions make pandemics more likely
accessed from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02341-1.
Jameel, Shahid, 2020. On Ecology and Environment as drivers of human disease and pandemics, ORF Issue Brief, Issue No 388.July 2020.
Jefferson, Brandie. 2020. Pollution and pandemics: A dangerous mix, accessed from https://source.wustl.edu/2020/11/pollution-and-pandemics-a-dangerous-mix/
James Alexander Booth, Mário Špírek, Tekle AirgechoLobie, Kirsten Skarstad, Lumir Krejci & Magnar Bjørås. Antibiotic‑induced DNA damage results in a controlled loss of pH homeostasis and genome instability.Nov 10, 2020; Open access https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33173044.
Yoshikawa TT. Antimicrobial resistance and aging: beginning of the end of the antibiotic era? J Am Geriatr Soc. 2002;50(7 Suppl): S226-229.
Okeke IN, Lamikanra A, Edelman R. Socioeconomic and behavioural factors leading to acquired bacterial resistance to antibiotics in developing countries. Emerg Infect Dis. 1999;5(1):18. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar].
Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (2020). Global biodiversity outlook 5. https://www.cbd.int/gbo/gbo5/publication/gbo-5-en.pdf.
J Verschuur, EE Koks, JW Hall.Global economic impacts of COVID-19 lockdown measures stand out in high-frequency shipping data ( 2021) . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.024881825
Watts, Jonathan.2020. Bruno Latour: ‘This is a global catastrophe that has come from within, accessed from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/06/bruno-latour-coronavirus-gaia-hypothesis-climate-crisis.
Adedeji WA. The Treasure called Ann Ib Postgrad Med.2016 Dec:14(2):56-57.
| Volume | 01 |
| Issue | 02 |
| Received | November 17, 2023 |
| Accepted | January 8, 2024 |
| Published | February 1, 2024 |