Antibiotic Resistance

History

In 1928 Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, for which he was awarded the Nobel Price in 1945. During the award ceremony, Fleming warned that the drug could lose its effectiveness if used too frequently and without medical indication. He also predicted fatalities caused by bacteria grown resistant to the medication.

As late as 1938, more than ten percent of all patients, who contracted pneumonia or tuberculosis, succumbed to the illness. The big breakthrough for penicillin came in the early forties when it was found to be extra-ordinarily effective against purulent streptococcus and staphylococcus.

The Problem

The first descriptions of antimicrobial resistant bacteria were published as early as 1944. Two years later, a London clinic reported that 14 percent of staphylococcus no longer reacted to penicillin. This number grew to 49 percent in 1949. In 1955, the Swiss Pharmacy News Paper reported that the percentage of penicillin resistant staphylococcus had reached 75 - 80% of the population. It was not until 1955 that penicillin was approved as a prescription drug, but by this time the resistancy difficulties of antibiotics was well known. The difficulty is that antibiotics seldom kill selectively, but also attack nutrient competitors, thereby clearing the way for pathogens. Under optimum conditions cells divide every 30 minutes which adds up to 200 billion cells within 24 hours, all of which can turn against an organism.

In the sixties an especially aggressive strand of MRSA staphylococcus was discovered. Since then, it contains a mutated gene that perforates the immune system's defence cells. Experts are of the opinion that the excessive use of antibiotics has caused this situation. Numerous prescribed antibiotics are unnecessary and consequently drive up the resistance spiral.

The Immune System

Every human being as well as every animal carries billions of bacteria, the majority of which are harmless or even useful. You will find bacteria, like staphylococcus aureus which are physiologically normal pathogens, in the nose. A healthy immune system however, has no problems in preventing these from entering the body through the nasal mucosa.

When antibiotics are used excessively, all of the bacteria, bad or good, are killed. What is left are resistant bacteria which multiply in the body and pass on their resistant genes to newly arriving pathogens. It appears that the miracle antibiotics are losing their effectiveness more and more.

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