1. why might some antibiotics show greater evidence of bacterial resistance than
ID: 261903 • Letter: 1
Question
1. why might some antibiotics show greater evidence of bacterial resistance than others?
2. do any of the results obtained suggest that bacterial genes that confer resistance to certain antibiotics also work against chemically similar antibiotics?
3. Staphylococcus epidermidis is generally not considered a harmful species of bacteria; in fact, it may be beneficial to humans to have this organism living on our skin. even so, why should we be concerned that this species shows resistance to a variety of antibiotics? try to address serveral different reasons.
4. it is becoming more and more common to find antibiotic resistant bacteria outside of medical facilities. however, it is still often the case that hospital patients become infected with resistant bacteria that are rarely found outside of the hostpial environment. what factors make it more likely to that a hospital patient (rather than a person outside of a hospital) will end up with an infection caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria?
5. if all antibiotic use suddenly halted, would populations of human-infecting bacteria eveolve in terms of their antibiotic resistance alleles? (hint: to answer this completely, you need to consider possible metabollic costs of resistance)
Explanation / Answer
1)Bacteria survive and multiply causing more harm. Bacteria use several mechanisms.Bacteria develop ability to neutralize the antibiotic before it can harm, others rapidly pump the antibiotic out, and still others change the antibiotic attack site so it doesn't affect the function of the bacteria.
2)Antibiotics kill the growth of susceptible bacteria. Sometimes bacteria survives because it has the ability to neutralize or escape the effect of the antibiotic; that one bacterium can multiply and replace all the bacteria that were killed off. Exposure to antibiotics therefore provides selective pressure, which makes the surviving bacteria more likely to be resistant.Bacteria that were at one time susceptible to antibiotic can acquire resistance through mutation of their genetic material or by acquiring pieces of DNA that code for the resistance for other bacteria. The DNA which codes for resistance can be grouped in a single easily transferable package. This means that bacteria can become resistant to many antimicrobial agents because of the transfer of piece of DNA.
3)
Staphyloccocus epidermis is a part of the normal human flora, typically the skin flora.
S.epidermis is less commonly part of the mucosal flora.
S.epidermis is facultative anaerobic bacteria.
S. epidermidis is in concern of people with surgical implants because it is known to form biofilms that grow on these devices.
S. epidermidis is contaminant of specimens sent to the diagnostic laboratory.
4)S. epidermidis represents the most common source of infections on indwelling medical devices.The fact is that S. epidermidis is a permanent and ubiquitous colonizer of human skin, and the resulting high probability of device contamination during insertion.S. epidermidis infections rarely develop into life-threatening diseases,their frequency and the fact that they are extremely difficult to treat represent a serious burden for the public health system.
5)The costs of vascular catheter-related bloodstream infections caused by S. epidermidis amounts to $ 2 billion annually in the United States alone 3–5.Treatment is complicated by antibiotic resistance genes and the formation of biofilms, multicellular agglomerations have intrinsic resistance to antibiotics and mechanisms of host defense.Recent investigation has identified specific molecular determinants facilitating S. epidermidis immune evasion and ability to cause chronic disease.Understanding the S. epidermidis physiology not only during infection, but also in its commensal status is urgently needed to evaluate therapeutic strategies against S. epidermidis.
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