Amber Long

Professor Campbell
UWRT 1103
April 11, 2016

The Antibiotic Apocalypse: The Future of the World and Antibiotic Resistance
Antibiotic resistance has been a point of discussion for decades, but the public has only become
more aware of it in recent years. As more people become resistant to popular antibiotics
(resulting in illness or even death), people begin to realize the repercussions of an antibiotic
resistant world (How bad are the repercussions?). As the years go by (on would sound better),
researchers and scientists realize that they are running out of time to find a solution to the
problem that has unintentionally been created by man. Although it has long been known that
antibiotic resistance cannot be stopped (only deterred), there are numerous reasons why
researchers have not created a definite solution for the problem. This paper will explore the
future of antibiotic resistance and clarify what will happen to the world if a solution is not found.
Antibiotics are drugs that fight infections caused by bacteria in both humans and animals. These
drugs either kill bacteria or make it more difficult for bacteria to multiply. They do not have any
effect on viruses. Antibiotic resistance is a worldwide problem. Many forms of resistance spread
with remarkable speed, circulating from continent to continent with ease. Described as
nightmare bacteria by world health leaders, these super bugs pose a catastrophic threat to
people in every country. Each year in the United States, at least 2 million people acquire serious

infections with bacteria that are resistant to one or more of the antibiotics designed to treat those
infections. At least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these antibiotic-resistant
infections (Which infections?). Many more die from other conditions that were complicated by
an antibiotic resistant infection (Center for Disease Control and Prevention).
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Antibiotic-resistant infections add
considerable and avoidable costs to the already overburdened U.S. healthcare system. In most
cases, antibiotic-resistant infections require prolonged and/or costlier treatments, extend hospital
stays, necessitate additional doctor visits and healthcare use, and result in greater disability and
death compared with infections that are easily treatable with antibiotics. The total economic cost
of antibiotic resistance to the U.S. economy has been difficult to calculate. Estimates vary but
have ranged as high as $20 billion in excess direct healthcare costs, with additional costs to
society for lost productivity as high as $35 billion a year. The use of antibiotics is the greatest
cause of antibiotic resistance around the world. The CDC has revealed that up to 50% of
antibiotics are not needed or not optimally effective when prescribed. However, antibiotic
resistance does not only occur as a result of being prescribed in human patients. Antibiotics are
also used to prevent, control, treat disease, and promote growth in food-producing animals.
There is a debate which regards antibiotic use in animals and subsequent negative human health
implications (What is the debate?). These negative human health implications were indicated by
the release of the Swann report by the United Kingdom in 1969. A recent report by the National
Research Council (1998) confirmed that there were information gaps that contribute to the
difficulty of assessing potential detrimental effects of antimicrobial use in food on human and
animal health. Regardless of this fact, it has become apparent that animal and human bacterial
pathogens have become resistant to antibiotics. Antimicrobial use in todays animal production

environment is important to current animal health and recent food productions in the United
States. Antimicrobials use in veterinary medicines is critical to the economic health of the food
animal production industry. This use is primarily focused on the treatment and or prevention of
animal disease. Resistance is an inevitable phenomenon and the challenge is in preventing it
from becoming a serious medical health problem. The latest report of the American Society for
Microbiology (ASM) task force on antibiotic resistance stated that there is an urgent need for
more prudent use of antibiotics in both human and veterinary medicine, especially as it relates to
food production. This report emphasized that there is a strong need to better educate human and
veterinary health care professionals in bacterial antimicrobial resistance and prudent use
practices (The Food Safety Perspective of Antibiotic Resistance). (Talk more about antibiotic use
in animals)
In 2015, researchers in Norway began searching for the answers to create new antibiotics. They
are looking at sea bacteria in the hopes that they hold new bacteria which will turn into these
drugs. Marcel Jaspars is the founder of PharmaSea project, an EU-funded initiative to bring
research groups together around the world in search of new antibiotics. According to Jaspars, "If
no one finds new antibiotics for common infections, what will happen is we will go back to the
pre-antibiotic age in which a simple cut could turn into an infection that becomes deadly.
Jaspars realizes that common treatments are no longer treatable by using standard antibiotics.
The reason that not much research is being done to create new antibiotics is because it is not
cost-effective for pharmaceutical companies to do so. On average, it costs a pharmaceutical
company more than $2 billion to bring a new drug to market. In the case of antibiotics, the drug
is only taken for a short time, and could eventually develop resistance. That's why large-scale
focus has moved away from antibiotics research in the past 30 years. In the meantime, bacteria

have evolved, adapted, and become resistant to many current antibiotics. The key is finding new
chemistry. (How can we do this?) Bacteria can't be resistant to a drug if they've never seen
anything like it before. Extreme environments are providing new places to look. (CNN). This is
the reason why researchers are looking at organisms that live in the extreme conditions of the
arctic waters. Previously, bacteria and fungi were the main sources for new antibiotics. About
70% of antibiotics come from sediment and soil samples from land. Jaspars hopes to find new
life forms that may give new chemistry that may be able to treat bacterial infections. The early
results of the research are promising. Compounds being tested in Norway and at Jaspars lab in
Scotland are showing signs of antibacterial properties.
Needs to include citations and page numbers. Overall good essay but some points need to be
elaborated on more thoroughly. Also missing a conclusion paragraph.