Bacteria are a domain of single cellular living organisms. They were one of the first living organisms to exist on this planet. Bacterias are an essential part of various natural processes that occur on earth. They are also crucial for most multicellular organisms that exist on this planet, like us. The bacteria present in our gut help us digest our food and, in turn, produce energy used by our bodies to stay alive and complete day-to-day tasks. Nevertheless, not all bacteria are beneficial. Some species of bacteria’s are pretty harmful and can cause terrible diseases like anthrax, cholera and leprosy. Up until the 20th century, these diseases were deadly and large scale outbreaks were frequent. This was because we did not have an effective tool to fight these harmful bacteria. Although there are records of antibiotics being used since ancient times, modern antibiotics were only discovered in the 20th century. These modern antibiotics were the tools that we needed. They were remarkably effective and were seen as miracle drugs. However, these antibiotics come at a high cost. Uncontrolled use of antibiotics can lead to and has led to bacteria evolving new methods of protecting themselves and getting stronger and more resilient to these antibiotics. These drugs help save millions of lives by killing harmful bacteria, but on the other hand, their unchecked use leads to the evolution of the very thing they aim to destroy. This powerful weapon that we have created is capable of damaging our ecosystem in unimaginably catastrophic ways. Its overuse could create a world where super bacteria, immune to all known forms of medicine, become a common occurrence. This would ironically take us back to the pre-20th-century era when we were unarmed against these terrible diseases. Antibiotics are a gift of science, and they need to be used in a controlled manner. But nowadays, we take this gift for granted. Over the counter, antibiotics are readily available, and people consume them for the simplest of things, such as a minor cold or a sore throat. In reality, these drugs should be used as a last resort. An even bigger abuser of antibiotics is the livestock industry. Animals are kept in miserable conditions, in congested and unhygienic cages. These conditions create the perfect grounds for bacte- rial infections to spread. To prevent this, livestock is given strong antibiotic drugs, which should be strictly controlled. Due to this, in 2015, a super bacteria was discovered in China, which was resistant to Colistin. Colistin is a powerful antibiotic that is reserved for highly deadly infections. This drug was being used in several Chinese pig farms. Resistance to Colistin is catastrophic news since Colistin was considered one of the strongest antibiotics ever discovered. We are already starting to see the horrible effects of the overuse of these precious drugs, and we need to regulate their use before it’s too late.
10 Jan 2022
Akshat Bhatnagar
