Superbugs Catastrophe
By Arjuwan Lakkdawala
Ink in the Internet
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are expected to claim more human lives than cancer by 2050.
Situation is only short of being declared a health emergency.
Almost 10 million people die each year in the world from cancer according to www.ourworldindata.org
The factors contributing to the rise in superbugs are many by which mutations and ARGs occur resulting in antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Antibiotics overuse and misuse are among the factors and so is hospital hygiene.
ARGs (antibiotic-resistant genes) through Horizontal Gene Transfer can occur in three main ways: Transformation - in which the bacteria picks up genetic material from the environment.
Transduction - in which bacteriophages transfer genes between bacteria when bacteria DNA gets incorporated in the genomes of the virus. This can happen during the Lytic or Lysogenic Cycles which are reproduction processes of bacteriophages.
Conjugation - in which genes are transfered between bacteria from a donor bacterium to a recipient bacterium on direct contact.
In laboratory tests transduction was observed more frequent to occur than in nature. This may or may not be a reassuring indication. Because of the abundance of phages and bacteria generally in hospitals. More studies and observation is required in this matter to have a better understanding or estimate.
Bacteriophages or phages for short, are viruses that have specifically evolved to attack bacteria and are harmless to humans. They were in fact used to treat bacterial infections before the discovery of antibiotics.
Microbiologist Felix d'Herelle in 1917 at the Institute Pasteur in Paris, published a paper in which the lysing of bacteria was described "by an invisible microbe he named Bacteriophage."
The first recorded therapeutic use of phages was in 1919.
Phage Therapy is being explored by scientists again because of the superbug catastrophe. The increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria is so severe that if no solution is found humanity will go back to the days of dying from the simplest of infections.
Phages have two studied functions of reproduction. One is highly in favour of elimination of bacteria which is used in phage therapy. It is the lytic cycle: the phage attaches to any of its specific target range of bacteriam and injects its DNA into it, eventually the phages multiply in the bacterium killing it.
To use this process as phage therapy it is required to identify the phages that can attack the specific bacterial infection. Since each type of phage can only attack a range of bacteria but not all bacteria.
The sides effects are not known of this treatment if there are any. What is known so far is that the phages used in the therapy should be eliminated from the human body when there is no bacterial infection host cells anymore.
However, phages can also be a factor that contribute to bacteria getting ARGs by the lytic or the lysogenic cycle in which the phage injects its DNA into the bacterium but instead of multiplying immediately the phages are reproduced in the cell devision process of the bacterium. However, here too the phages eventually kill the bacteria cell and burst from it to infect more bacteria cells.
Bacteria can also become superbugs due to natural mutations during cell division.
Phages are the most abundant entities on earth, outnumbering all living organisms including bacteria. And have been actively evolving for billions of years.
It is suspected they might be the workers that drive evolution in species.
I interviewed some nurses who said another problem with the treatment of bacterial infections is the practise of prescribing strong antibiotics from the start. The problem with this is that if the bacteria becomes resistant there is no higher antibiotic to administer said the nurses.
Adam Hersh, M.D, Ph.D. an expert in infectious diseases writes in an article on the University of Utah website.
"When US doctors prescribe antibiotics, 60% of the time it is strong antibiotics (broad spectrum) which can kill multiple kinds of bacteria. According to a study by University of Utah researchers. But more than 25% in such cases it is useless because the infection is from a virus." He says the downside of this can be that the antibiotics kill the "good" bacteria in the body which can lead to more side effects and also contribute to antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2022
Sources:
Websites
Transduction is a process by which a virus transfers genetic material from one bacterium to another
The lysogenic cycle is a method by which a virus can replicate its DNA using a host cell. Typically, viruses can undergo two types of DNA re
Bacterial conjugation, also referred to as bacterial sex, is a major horizontal gene transfer mechanism through which DNA is transferred fro
Faced with the crisis of multidrug-resistant bacteria, bacteriophages, viruses that infect and replicate within bacteria, have been reported
Bacteriophages occupy a unique position in biology, representing an absolute majority of all organisms in the biosphere. Because their genom
Bacteriophages occupy a unique position in biology, representing an absolute majority of all organisms in the biosphere. Because their genom
Kurzgesagt video link
Hashem Al Ghaili video link
