Antibiotic Apocalypse; Are We Ready?

Abstract

Look to the past is the way to discover our future. A paper-cut wound, any kind of surgery, giving birth, and a simple infection could kill you in the past before the antibiotic (pre-antibiotic era) and it will kill you in the future after the antibiotic (antibiotic apocalypse or post- antibiotic era). The Magic Word - Antibiotic unavoidably leaping to our mind when we dealing with any infection. Since 1928 mould metabolites (e.g. Penicillin) has been widely used to treat bacterial infection, although the medical use of the mould is not new. The ancient Egyptians were leaders in using the mould in the treatment of infection as mentioned in the landmark book “Odyssey”. The book was written by Homer who considered as one of the most famous writers in the history of the world. Homer mention that, the ancient Egyptian men were the most skillful human in the medicine. Some of their wound healing practices are still used till now with exalt of their medicinal heritage. Imhotep (2650-2600 BC); the remarkable ancient Egyptian doctor is known to treat infection with mouldy bread. This fact was proven in September 1928, by the Scottish physician Alexander Fleming. During his work at St. Mary’s Hospital in London as bacteriologist, Alexander Fleming was noticed an interesting phenomenon. The grown colonies of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus appeared translucent: “ghostly,” in Fleming’s words. He discovered that the reason of change of the bacterial colonies growth from the usual yellow, opaque mass, to translucent: “ghostly,” was the contamination of the Petri dish with a fungus. The fungus contaminating the Petri dish was eventually identified as Penicillium notatum, and Fleming termed the lytic compound produced by this mold, “penicillin”. Clinical application of the penicillin was done by Florey in 1940. Due to his pioneer work, Alexander Fleming, who with colleagues won the Nobel Prize (1945) in Physiology and Medicine, said in his Nobel lecture: ‘development of the bacterial resistance to the penicillin in the laboratory by exposing them to concentrations not sufficient to kill them. Years ago, the World Health Organization began warning about the 'post antibiotic era'- a time when drug resistance prevails, and antibiotics are no longer effective. The reality is, for many people, that era is already here. U.S. health officials on Thursday (May 26, 2016) reported the first case in the country of a patient with an infection resistant to a last-resort antibio…