Antibiotic resistance has become a real problem in the United States and other countries across the world. The resistance stems from the repeated use of the same antibiotic to defeat an infection. Once the same antibiotic is used repeatedly, the bacteria reproduces with the new generation having a distinctive antibiotic-resistant DNA becoming a superbug. If that medicine is the only antibiotic available to defeat that bacteria, then there is no hope for those that are infected. The antibiotic production program is very underfunded so these superbugs are not being taken care of because new antibiotic medicines are not being developed. If a major bacterial disease becomes a superbug along with the lack of research funding could lead to a global pandemic. There have been many alternative medicines created to combat the rapid growth of superbugs but most of them have not been put into practice. So the question becomes should people get rid of antibiotics all together and reach for alternatives and reevaluate the plan of administering them?

Before the problem is approached, the concept of superbug antibiotic resistance must be understood. Bacteria can reproduce every twenty minutes through binary fission while it takes up to ten years to develop a new antibiotic to fight it. Every time a bacteria reproduces, it has a piece of the antibiotic attached to it so it can progressively code for DNA that is more resistant to the medicine being administered to it. MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is one of the most notorious of the superbugs, taking the lives of those in hospitals and other superbugs are only becoming more prominent. For example, just three years ago, a five week old girl from Batavia, Illinois caught a simple cold that took a fatal turn and she ended up dying in a matter of two weeks (Mendoza). New superbugs are being created almost every day and without action, stories like that of little Madeline Reimer will become the norm. 

Antibiotics must be produced at an astonishing rate to be able to combat the bacteria. And once they are produced, doctors are overprescribing the medicine to people that are begging for them. If a person is prescribed antibiotics for a ten-day term: the body, in more than eighty-percent of cases, has caught up by the 6th and combat the bacteria on its' own. This constant abuse is making it very difficult to keep superbugs under control. Scientist Alexander Fleming once said "The thoughtless person playing with penicillin treatment is morally responsible for the death of the man who succumbs to infection with penicillin-resistant organism" (Mckenna). Alternative medicines such as essential oils, bacteriophages, and others have showed promise in preventing antibiotic resistance. They've also shown promise in being able to work with antibiotics once they are in the body, making antibiotics that much more potent. With the plan of administering antibiotics fixed along with alternative medicines to help the antibiotics, the incredible problem that is arising will be defeated. 

A complete overhaul of the antibiotic administering system is necessary for the change to be possible. There almost isn't any meat at the store or a fast food restaurant that can be bought without having some type of antibiotic able to get to the refrigerator. More than eighty percent of antibiotics are for animals and not for humans (Mckenna). So once those foods are cooked, those antibiotics are consumed by people and whatever specific bacteria is in humans, can code for a resistant type (Krasner & Shors). The calling is upon supermarkets, restaurants, and farmers to find more efficient and safer ways to get the product from the farms and pens to the stomachs of consumers. Refusal of products containing antibiotics by the consumers will in turn cause the supermarkets to get different products which in turn will cause the farmers to change their tactics. Without the help and commitment of these essential parts of everyday life, antibiotic resistance will continue to be a murderous pandemic. 

Much of the problem with antibiotics is the misuse of antibiotics treatment for viral infections. Many doctors prescribe a stint of antibiotics to treat diseases such as bronchitis, the flu, and most sore throats and coughs (MayoClinic). Misuse of antibiotics also take out some of the good bacteria that is in the body used for stomach digestion and other biological purposes (MayoClinic). Many scientists say that this stems from when penicillin was first introduced, it was known as a wonder drug because it worked so fast (MayoClinic). This continuous misuse is not just on the doctors either; many consumers use antibiotics from previous prescriptions for many illnesses that are not associated with bacteria. Without the proper education for both doctors and consumers, misuse of antibiotics will continue and increase the antibiotic resistant bacteria population.

Something must be done about antibiotics or the inevitable, a superbug not being stopped, will become a roaring reality. Since the creation of antibiotics, it has been evident that a problem would arise very soon if the scientists couldn't create antibiotics fast enough. Penicillin, the first antibiotic, created in 1943, had identified antibiotic resistant bacteria by 1945 (Mckenna). Even relatively new antibiotics, such as Daptomycin, created in 2003, had resistant bacteria present by 2004 (Mckenna). Many strains of gonorrhea, tuberculosis, and other deadly diseases have developed antibiotic resistant bacteria.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that each year superbugs in the U.S. alone cause at least two million illnesses and 23,000 deaths (The White House). This number expected to rise in the coming years; so it is only a matter of time before all bacteria are resistant to antibiotics.

Hospitals have been the main resting place for superbugs and in U.S. hospitals in particular, they remain constant problems. For the staph infections throughout the world, the United States has MRSA account for 63 percent of them while Norway only accounts for 1 percent (Mendoza). Why is Norway's number that much lower than America's? Norwegians have abandoned the tactic of antibacterial sanitizer and have relied on repeated washing of hands (Mendoza). "It may be wrought on the hands but the numbers speak for themselves" one nurse says in Norway's Aker University Hospital (Mendoza). Easy to implement in U.S. hospitals, I cannot really see why this isn't already done yet. If the results from Norway's experiment show such a drop in antibiotic resistant infections, then why isn't this technique being accepted and performed all over the world? Too much longer and it will be too late to stop the inevitable infection takeover from happening. 

It's almost impossible nowadays to find a topical or cleaning product that consumers can buy that doesn't have the words "antibacterial" on it. Lotions, detergents, and other household items have antibacterial components that brings the problem outside of the hospital and into the homes. Simple water and soap is sufficient enough for getting rid of any bacteria that is on the hand but most people want fast and readily available and hand sanitizers and antibacterial lotions are both of those (FDA). With those products available basically everywhere, superbugs encounter those easily obtainable topical medicines and are able to mutate. Consumers are bringing the problem into their homes by buying the products that are supposed to "prevent" antibiotic resistance. 

Physicians are also inhibiting the problem of antibiotic resistance by prescribing so many antibiotics for low-grade infections. Going along with Dr. Fleming's quote, the ones overprescribing the antibiotics, are morally responsible for the person that dies from an antibiotic resistant infection. Many infections call for an antibiotic stint of ten days but, Maryn Mckenna comments in her TedTalk that "after the 6th day of antibiotic treatment, the body has had time to catch up and can fight the infection on its own". The infection fighting cells in the body have had time to figure out what is the necessary action to take to defeat the bacteria so the stint should stop immediately. So why are so many antibiotics overprescribed? Is it for a quick buck for the doctors? Is it on the consumers begging for the antibiotics for low-grade infections? I believe it is both. Doctors are steadily overprescribing antibiotics for people knowing that the body will fight it off in a selected number of days. The consumers are running to the doctors' office when a slight infection could be easily tackled with a couple days' rest and home remedies. For example, in Norway, the nation itself prescribes the least amount of antibiotics yet has the least amount of infections, superbug and regular (Mendoza & Mason). The doctors only prescribe medicines for moderate to severe infections and most of the pharmaceutical aisles in supermarkets and convenience stores contain lozenges and teas, nothing really medicinal. People have simply stopped taking drugs and it seems to have worked so as Americans, the plan must be reanalyzed.

 Another plan of attacking the superbugs is the combination of alternative medicines and antibiotics could be the key to defeating the pandemic. Research has been done by several scientists that shows that bacteriophage therapy are much more efficient when working with antibiotics (Golkar). The bacteriophages activate at the site of the infection and inhibit the reaction between the antibiotics and the infection. Another experiment shows that host-directed therapeutics targeted a tuberculosis infection specifically and disarrayed the bacteria resistant replication function, allowing the antibiotics to do its' job much easier (Hawn). The alternatives can be as easily implemented as the prescription service is for antibiotics, the only drawback is the initial cost. Although the research is very limited, with the plan in function, antibiotics can become much more effective with the help of alternatives.

The main argument against the introduction of alternatives and the different tactics of administering medicines is the use of these various ideas in third-world countries. Will people in poverty be able to get these new tactics and medicines? Will outreach programs have enough money to get these mixtures to implement them in third-world countries? If people wait much longer to act, those people living in poverty will be dead. Take the Ebola outbreak for example. Although it was a viral disease that stemmed from another disease, it acts the same as a superbug. A new strain of the disease arose, infected many people, no hope of a vaccine to help cure it, and it killed thousands of those in Sierra Leone and Liberia (CDC). If nearly 1 billion dollars, collectively, can be spent on fighting the Ebola outbreak, there is no reason that the world cannot input that much money into the research and development of antibiotic resistance (Linshi). 

Completely shying away from antibiotics could be the last resort but there are alternative medicines that are able to handle the task of battling infections. Essential and aromatic oils from 5,000 B.C. have shown proof that they can diminish the effects of infections (Craciun). Through consumption and topical solutions, the oils can stop the bacteria from reproducing and creating new resistant bacteria (Craciun). Raman technology, a technology that involves freezing likely resistant bacteria and extracting several sets of DNA from it, can create a bacterium that can attack an infection when it is present in the body (Carey & Heidar-Torkabdi). Although these medicines are great and have great potential, the threat of superbug resistance keeps many of these medicines from being administered. Indian scientists and physicians have created three oral antibiotic vaccines for cholera, a huge problem in parts of poverty-stricken countries, but have not administered it because of the fear of resistant bacteria (Bakarish). 

With all these alternatives and different tactics of taking care of antibiotics resistance, there is no reason for all people not to act now. It all starts with the consumers of America. If people refuse to buy antibiotic filled food, tough it out through low-grade infections and push the government to make reforms on how to attack superbugs, there is no reason that it cannot happen now. The alternative medicines have showed promise in being able to work with antibiotics and with just a little more research, they can easily be implemented in medicine. Once the government gets on board with the movement, antibiotic resistance won't be eradicated but the effects will be diminished dramatically. Increased education for all levels of consumers, doctors, and government about how real and dangerous antibiotic resistance is will increase the attention that needs to be called to it. These tactics and answers are all easy and can be put into place immediately. The call to action is upon us and people must act now.

