In the 20th century, one of the greatest breakthroughs is Antibiotics and has long been regarded as one. But since then, germs, viruses, parasites, and fungi have started to build resistances to evade the medications that are supposed to kill them (Davies et al, 2010). For example, someone with an illness called strep throat could be taking a drug called penicillin which is used to kill all the bacteria. But some of the bacteria might survive and build a resistance to penicillin, so the next time you take it-it won't be effective in killing the bacteria (Tischler, 2013). The abuse and inappropriate use of antibiotics, as well as, barely any new drug research by the pharmaceutical workers have all been blamed for the antibiotic resistance crisis.

In the 20th century, one of the greatest breakthroughs is Antibiotics and has long been regarded as one. But since then, germs, viruses, parasites, and fungi have started to build resistances to evade the medications that are supposed to kill them (Davies et al, 2010). For example, someone with an illness called strep throat could be taking a drug called penicillin which is used to kill all the bacteria. But some of the bacteria might survive and build a resistance to penicillin, so the next time you take it-it won't be effective in killing the bacteria (Tischler, 2013). The abuse and inappropriate use of antibiotics, as well as, barely any new drug research by the pharmaceutical workers have all been blamed for the antibiotic resistance crisis.

Human Heredity: Principles and Issues (MindTap Course List)

11th Edition

ISBN:9781305251052

Author:Michael Cummings

Publisher:Michael Cummings

Chapter9: Gene Expression And Gene Regulation

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 1CS: There have been recurring cases of mad-cow disease in the United Kingdom since the mid-1990s....

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It was not until 1928 that penicillin, the first true antibiotic, was discovered by Alexander Fleming, Professor of Bacteriology at St. Mary's Hospital in London. Penicillin heralded the dawn of the antibiotic age. Before its introduction there was no effective treatment for infections such as pneumonia, gonorrhea or rheumatic fever. Hospitals were full of people with blood poisoning contracted from a cut or a scratch, and doctors could do little for them but wait and hope. 1. What is the mechanism of action of penicillin? 2. Cells treated with penicillin do not die immediately, so how this antibiotic is effective? 3. Why penicillin is most effective against Gram-positive bacteria? 4. Explain penicillin resistance mechanisms among bacteria today and the causes why they gained this resistance and making this great life-saving drug not usable anymore.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have become a stubborn challenge for scientists. Should bacteriophages be used to save the lives of patients in which other treatments have failed?
There have been recurring cases of mad-cow disease in the United Kingdom since the mid-1990s. Mad-cow disease is caused by a prion, an infectious particle that consists only of protein. In 1986, the media began reporting that cows all over England were dying from a mysterious disease. Initially, there was little interest in determining whether humans could be affected. For 10 years, the British government maintained that this unusual disease could not be transmitted to humans. However, in March 1996, the government did an about-face and announced that bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad-cow disease, can be transmitted to humans, where it is known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (VCJD). As in cows, this disease eats away at the nervous system, destroying the brain and essentially turning it into a spongelike structure filled with holes. Victims experience dementia; confusion; loss of speech, sight, and hearing; convulsions; coma; and finally death. Prion diseases are always fatal, and there is no treatment. Precautionary measures taken in Britain to prevent this disease in humans may have begun too late. Many of the victims contracted it over a decade earlier, when the BSE epidemic began, and the incubation period is long (VCJD has an incubation period of 10 to 40 years). A recent study concluded that 1 in 2,000 people in Great Britain carry the abnormally folded protein that causes VCJD. In spite of these numbers, the death rate from VCJD remains low. It is not clear whether this means that the incubation period for the disease is much longer than previously thought, or whether they may never develop the disease. How can a prion replicate itself without genetic material?
Give two reasons why bacteria are becoming more and more resistant to antibiotics.
The discovery and mass-production of antibiotics has triggered a revolution in medicine, decreasing hospitalization times, shortening the course of diseases, and ultimately increasing peoples' lifespans. However, soon after the first major antibiotic, penicillin, was put into widespread use around 1940, people soon found that some bacteria were tougher to kill, which were the first signs of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Over the years bacteria have been able to develop resistance against many different types of antibiotics, and some bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is resistant to almost every antibiotic in use today. Antibiotic resistance has become so severe that in 2014 the World Health Organization published a report that speculated of a "post-antibiotic era" where antibiotics were no longer a main method of disease treatment. In this week's forum, please read summary of the World Health Organization's report (linked here and in the…
A4-month-old infant had been running a moderate fever for36 hours, and a nervous mother made a call to her pediatrician.Examination and tests revealed no outward signs of infectionor cause of the fever. The anxious mother wanted a prescription for antibiotics, but the pediatrician recommended watching the infant for two days before making a decision. He explained that decades of rampant use of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture has caused a global surge in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, drastically reducing the effectiveness of antibiotic therapy for infections. He pointed out that bacteria can exchange antibiotic resistance traits and that many pathogenic strains are now resistant to several antibiotics. The mother wasnot placated by these explanations and insisted that her baby receive antibiotics immediately. This situation raises several issues. Question How should the pediatrician balance his ethical responsibility to provide effective treatment to the present patient with…
A4-month-old infant had been running a moderate fever for36 hours, and a nervous mother made a call to her pediatrician.Examination and tests revealed no outward signs of infectionor cause of the fever. The anxious mother wanted a prescription for antibiotics, but the pediatrician recommended watching the infant for two days before making a decision. He explained that decades of rampant use of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture has caused a global surge in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, drastically reducing the effectiveness of antibiotic therapy for infections. He pointed out that bacteria can exchange antibiotic resistance traits and that many pathogenic strains are now resistant to several antibiotics. The mother wasnot placated by these explanations and insisted that her baby receive antibiotics immediately. This situation raises several issues. Question: If the infant was given antibiotics, how might this have contributed to the production of resistant bacteria?
A4-month-old infant had been running a moderate fever for36 hours, and a nervous mother made a call to her pediatrician.Examination and tests revealed no outward signs of infectionor cause of the fever. The anxious mother wanted a prescription for antibiotics, but the pediatrician recommended watching the infant for two days before making a decision. He explained that decades of rampant use of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture has caused a global surge in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, drastically reducing the effectiveness of antibiotic therapy for infections. He pointed out that bacteria can exchange antibiotic resistance traits and that many pathogenic strains are now resistant to several antibiotics. The mother wasnot placated by these explanations and insisted that her baby receive antibiotics immediately. This situation raises several issues. Question:If you were an anxious parent of the patient, would it change your mind if you learned that a woman died in 2016 from a…
Which of the following is NOT true about Koch's postulates? First developed by Robert Koch, the pioneering German microbiologist In the first step, the microbe that causes a naturally occurring disease is cultured from a "wild" (non-laboratory) animal which has that disease None of the other four answers (All are true about Koch's Postulates) They represent a process for showing a causal association between a specific microbe and a disease If the same microbe from a diseased "wild" (non-laboratory) host causes the same disease in a lab animal and it can be cultured from that lab animal, this proves that the microbe is the cause of the naturally occurring disease
Discuss why penicillin was called the "miracle drug" when it was first used in the 1940s. Think about it being the first manufactured and distributed antibiotic? Did we have resistance back then? Did people once die from simple infections?
In terms of microbial pathogenicity, molecular Koch's postulates are a set of experimental criteria that show: A microbe is the aetiological agent of a disease A gene encodes a product that contributes to disease A gene encodes a product that contributes to immunity to a disease A mutation does not contribute to disease
You have been given the job of creating the 'ideal' antibiotic for global use. What characteristics should this drug have?