how are we fighting antibiotic resistant bacteria and what will we do when our antibiotics will no longer have effect?
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The war between bugs and drugs is an ongoing arms race. It will continue forever and constantly adapt. Sure , it’s possible for the bugs to eventually “win” and become resistant to everything we throw at them, but that’s probably unlikely due to a super important concept in biological evolution: trade-offs.
Trade-offs are a result of limited resources in the world, and is the reason it is impossible to create the so-called “Darwinian Demon,” a hypothetical super-species that has evolved perfect genes to live forever and constantly reproduce. The problem is such a creature would consume every biological niche and every resource until there was nothing left and it would die. Instead, every adaptation that evolves in a species comes at some cost. An example of this is that after we developed antibiotics and vaccines, suddenly the rate of cancer in humans skyrocketed.
Bacteria have the same problem. So many have become penicillin-resistant by developing an adaptation called beta-lactamase, which is an enzyme that destroys a critical part of the penicillin drug. But now they are susceptible to clavulanic acid, which blocks that enzyme and allows penicillins to do their thing. That’s just one example.
Some bugs are kinda dumb and just don’t adapt well. Streptococcus species (like the one that causes strep throat) fall in that category, and are still regularly treated with early antibiotics. Some of the most challenging bugs are the ones that cause hospital acquired infections, such as Klebsiella pneumoniae. They survive in hospitals despite all the antibiotics there and therefore become multi-drug resistant and extremely tricky to treat. When doctors aren’t sure what drug to use, they can send samples to the lab for susceptibility testing. Usually they can find something. If not, they’ll need to explore other options depending on the location and severity of the infection.
Like I said earlier, it’s an arms race. As bugs develop drug resistance, we put a lot of work into figuring out how, then create new drugs to attack the new adaptations. Sometimes it’s easier than others, but the biggest problem of drug resistant bacteria is more likely to be rising healthcare costs due to the need to novel drugs. I doubt we get to a point where we simply can’t find a way to fight the bugs anymore. It’s just gonna get more expensive.
Moral of the story: listen to your doctor when it comes to appropriate antibiotic use. Don’t demand antibiotics when they tell you it’s not necessary, and always finish the entirety of your prescription. Irresponsible antibiotic use is just going to increase costs of healthcare and limit access even more.
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