Given time, heredity, and changes, any living...

Just a few decades ago, antibiotics were considered wonder drugs, because they worked so well to treat deadly diseases. Ironically, however, many antibiotics are becoming less effective, precisely because they worked so well, and they are used so often. Antibiotic era began in 1929 in compliance with the Alexander Fleming that bacteria do not grow near colonies of mold Penicillium. In subsequent decades this breakthrough discovery, molecules produced by fungi and bacteria have been successfully used to fight bacterial diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia. Antibiotics drastically reduced mortality from many infectious diseases. Golden Age of antibiotics was short-lived one. When

past few decades, many strains of bacteria have developed resistance >> << to antibiotics. An example of this is gonococci

,

bacterium that causes gonorrhea, as shown in the figure on the right. In 1960, penicillin and ampicillin

been able to control most cases of gonorrhea. Today, more than 24 percent

gonorrheal bacteria in the U.S. are resistant to at least one

antibiotic, and 98 percent of gonorrheal bacteria in Southeast Asia

is resistant to penicillin. Infectious bacteria are much harder

control than their predecessors were ten or twenty years ago. Doctors do not miss the "good old days" when they prescribed antibiotics permanently cure their patients. However, evolutionary theory suggests specific tactics to help slow the rate at which bacteria become resistant to our drugs. Evolutionary theory suggests that bacterial resistance will be. Given time, heredity, and changes, any living organisms (including bacteria) will evolve when selection pressure (eg, antibiotics) is introduced. But evolutionary theory also gives doctors and patients to specific strategies to delay even more extensive development of resistance to antibiotics. These strategies include:

Do not use antibiotics to treat viral infections. Antibiotics kill bacteria, not viruses. If you take antibiotics strattera for viral infections (eg cold or flu), you do not kill viruses, but you will introduce selective pressure on bacteria in your body, randomly selecting for antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Basically, you want your bacteria as "antibiotic virgins", so if they ever get out of control and cause an infection that your immune system can not cope, they can be killed by antibiotics available. Avoid soft doses of antibiotics over a long period of time. If you want to control the infection with antibiotics, short-term high-dose prescription is the best. This is because you want to kill all disease

bacteria, leaving no bacterial survivors. Any bacteria that survive mild doses are likely to be more stable. In general, if you're going to enter the selective pressure (antibiotics), make it so much that you cause the disappearance of the disease germs that cause in the host, rather than their evolution in stable form. In the treatment of bacterial infections with antibiotics, take all the pills. Just as mild doses can give rise to resistance, incomplete treatment of antibiotics may allow bacteria to survive and adapt. If you are going to introduce selective pressure (antibiotics), make it really strong and long enough reason for the disappearance of disease bacteria, but not their evolution. Using a combination of drugs to treat bacterial infections. If one particular drug does not help with bacterial infection, you can deal with resistant strains. Providing stronger dose of antibiotics just increases the strength of the same selective pressure and may even lead to the evolution of "super-resistant" strain. Instead, you can try a different antibiotic, bacteria have never faced before. This new and unusual selective pressure can make it better, causing their disappearance, but not their evolution. Reduction or elimination of "preventive" use of antibiotics in livestock and crops. Excessive use of antibiotics in agriculture and livestock purposes may lead to development of resistant strains. Later, these strains will not be able to control with antibiotics when really necessary. Preventive use of antibiotics in livestock and crops can also type antibiotics in the body of people who eat them. Ultimately, recognition of bacteria developing people and understanding their evolution should help us control that evolution, allowing to extend the useful life of antibiotics. .