Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria, Lab Report Example

The continued evolution of bacteria to maintain or formulate antibiotic resistance has caused great concern and hardships on many of the processes and treatment methods available to the medical community.  Research information and statistics presented in the lab show that as antibiotics increase the resistance of bacteria to these antibiotics also increases.  The main solution that has currently had the greatest success is for medical professionals to reduce the amount of antibiotics prescribed and taken by patients (Andersson 455).  Information presented in the lab also supports this research and suggest that a long-term decrease in antibiotic prescriptions will help resolve many of the antibiotic resistance issues currently plaguing the medical community.

Although the reduction in antibiotic prescriptions can help reduce many of these issues, other research has been produced to analyze the ways in which certain bacteria are transmitted in hopes of determining a potential correlation to antibiotic resistance.  Research suggests that bacteria transmitted in water have a specific genetic anomaly that increases the likelihood for antibiotic resistance (Schwartz 333).  This helps provide medical professionals with an alternative view on the resistance issues in order to help present future changes within the medical community to reduce antibiotic resistance and increase the effectiveness of treatment.  While water is one method of transmission that has been analyzed, research has also shown that airborne-transmitted bacteria also has a specific genetic component that increases antibiotic resistance (Rao 325).  Unfortunately, this research is still in its infancy stages and only presents the concept of genetic alteration as opposed to an actual medical solution.  The bulk of research continues to present the various methods by which bacteria are transmitted and how to reduce overall transmission of bacteria and diseases.  Further research must be conducted to present more information to draw appropriate conclusions and new solutions for reducing antibiotic resistance.

References

Andersson, Dan I. “Persistence of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria.” Current Opinion in Microbiology 6.5 (2003): 452-56.

Levy, Stuart B. “The Challenge of Antibiotic Resistance.” Scientific American Magazine (1998): 46-53.

Rao, G. Gopal. “Risk Factors for the Spread of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria.” Drugs 55.3 (1998): 323-30.

Schwartz, Thomas, Wolfgang Kohnen, Bernd Jansen, and Ursula Obst. “Detection of Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria and Their Resistance Genes in Wastewater, Surface Water, and Drinking Water Biofilms.” FEMS Microbiology Ecology 43.3 (2003): 325-35.