Particularly in Europe today, the presence of multi drug resistant bacteria is becoming an increasingly concerning problem in health care settings. In fact, superbugs, which antibiotics were normally able to treat, have become resistant to almost all antibiotic options. In one research study, European intensive care physicians have become increasingly concerned with the family of Enterobacteriaceae, especially Klebsiella pneumonia and E. coli. In fact, respondents of the study said that third-generation cephalosporin resistant bacteria, methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and carbapenem-resistant bacteria were the most prominent emerging superbugs in the intensive care unit. With almost no viable antibiotics to effectively target these drug resistant bacteria, I am concerned whether antibiotic development is staying on pace with the rate at which bacteria are becoming resistant. We need more funding on a national and global scale to initiate research in order to combat the problem of antibiotic resistance. More attention and urgency needs to be placed on our government officials to enact policy and increase spending on newer antibiotic initiatives. Otherwise, populations like infants and the elderly will be at serious risk in the future.
Europe describes the problem of superbugs as a multi-factor problem. One big problem is that patients, who carry multi drug resistant bacteria, have been treated across country borders. As a result, the spread of multi-drug resistant bacteria across borders in Europe is problematic. Additionally, health officials believe that there is more transmission of high-risked bacterial clones in health care settings. Finally, one of the most important issues, according to European physicians, is that antibiotics simply have been misused and overused. Given that most physicians in Europe responded that “they do not have access to last-line antibiotics”, antibiotic resistance and superbugs are incredibly concerning for those who are immunocompromised in health care settings where infections are transmitted easily (Lepape et al., 2020). I think it is important to consider; how do we refine practices such that we are limiting the use of antibiotics in an appropriate manner as health care providers? How can research advance in staying on pace with the rate that bacteria and superbugs gain resistance? How can we refine clinical practices to limit the transmission of future superbugs? These are some of the questions that I am curious about with regards to antibiotic resistance in the future.
The World Health Organization is calling for urgent action to tackle the problem of antibiotic resistance. The World Health Organization echoes concerns that of the 32 priority pathogens, E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae are particularly worrisome given that these bacterial infections circulate among immunocompromised people, the elderly, and infants in hospital care settings. Additionally, the World Health Organization is concerned about a highly resistant NDM1 (New Delhi metallo-beta lactamase 1) that many isolates of superbugs now have (World Health Organization, 2020). This specific beta lactamase makes bacteria resistant to a broad spectrum of antibiotics, including carbapenems. Unfortunately, the newer innovative antibiotics against superbugs are either too early in their development stage to be safely tested on patients, or they have shown signs to only be marginally better than current options. The lack of private investing and innovation are critical challenges that the World Health Organization sees to the problem of antibiotic resistance. Therefore, I am curious as to how we can incentivize pharmaceutical companies to continually develop new antibiotics. Are there certain measures to speed up and reduce costs for pharmaceutical companies to develop new antibiotics against multi drug resistant superbugs? This would incentivize pharmaceutical companies, while tackling a problem that could have severe consequences across the world.
Infectious Disease 