Antimicrobial Superbugs

Should mandatory antimicrobial stewardship programs set in place to control antibiotic use to decrease the chances of superbugs to emerge?

Table of contents

Introduction 4

Biological background 5

Alternative views for implementing antimicrobial stewardship programs 6

Alternative views against implementing antimicrobial stewardship programs 6

Conclusion 7

Bibliography 8

Introduction

The World Health Organisation has announced antibiotic resistance and the rise of superbugs as a threat to human race. Superbugs are defined as bacteria equipped with antibiotic resistance genes. The affected bacteria can transfer the antibiotic resistance genes to other bacteria and completely paralyse humans to combat against bacterial infections (News Limited 2014). According to recent studies

These programs can also benefit individual patients by improving clinical outcomes (Bebell and Muiruz 2014). Currently, patients infected by superbugs are treated either by radical surgery which may lead to amputation, or intense use of strong antibiotics which can cause many unwanted side effects (e.g. liver damage, diarrhoea, allergic reaction). Also pharmaceutical companies are not likely to invest in new drugs for superbugs as this has little financial profit for the companies making the creation of newly developed antibiotics with fewer side effects almost impossible (Pogson 2012). However, if the spread of superbugs is controlled by the AMS programs, no new drugs are needed and less aggressive treatments can be used for such bacterial infections. The AMS programs are preventative; they reduce infections and fewer people will be affected by infection. Even for the group of patients who are infected, more positive patient outcomes are expected when the AMS programs are