Antibiotics

                Penicillin was one of the greatest inventions in history; it saved hundreds of millions of people. Today penicillin is absolutely worthless when treating bacterial infections and diseases. Doctors sometimes use it for its placebo effect on patients who “really need antibiotics”. Nature evolves with the situations given to it and bacteria can do this at a rapid pace. They can evolve so rapidly they might be catching up with us humans, the fastest evolving beings in this world.

                Bacteria are catching up with technology. We keep creating new antibiotics but over time the bacteria will gain a resistance and the medicine will be useless. As humans, we evolve unbelievably quickly which has made us incredibly successful but if bacteria are faster and become one step ahead of us, we are toast and they flourish in a world of globalization and humans.  Hundreds of antibiotics have been created and treated patients until they are unusable. Sooner or later if we aren’t careful, we will run out of treatment and bacteria can spread rampantly across the world.  

                Doctors are now much more careful when handing out antibiotics. People need to realize that a cough is not a good reason to go get antibiotics; we cannot over use them to the ground. By being cautious, bacteria can hopefully take longer to evolve and become resistant. Handing out antibiotics all willy-nilly can lead to some serious consequences. Research for new ways of killing bacteria is also becoming a major priority as the super bacteria scare is increasing. This week, scientists are using lipids and membranes to essentially bait bacteria into getting killed by our immune system. You can read more here (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141102160004.htm). I think this research is absolutely essential.   Biased on how fast bacteria are evolving, we are quickly running out of antibiotics to kill this nemesis. If we run out of antibiotics with no other treatment, sickness and infections will become untreatable leading to millions of deaths. Funding and focusing on research of new methods will keep humanity from being destroyed by the microbes that surround us.  We don’t want any zombie apocalypses or pandemic attacks. If the popular game, Pandemic ever happens where we run out of antibiotics, get a ticket on the next ferry to Madagascar before it’s too late.