Simon's Story: On the morning of April 16, 2004, Simon, a 15-month-old child who had been recovering from a cold, awoke very upset with a high fever. His parents took him to the emergency room where doctors ran the standard tests (chest x-ray, oxygen-level), and speculated that he could be asthmatic. He was discharged at 1:30 PM. Once home, Simon began vomiting, became cold to the touch, and his lips turned blue. His nostrils were also flaring, and he was breathing very heavily. His parents called an ambulance, and he was rushed to the hospital again. He was diagnosed with an infection and sent to the intensive care unit where he soon fell into a septic coma. The doctors could not diagnose Simon's infection, and all of the treatments they tried failed. On April 17, 2004, Simon was pronounced dead at 12:45 p.m. (less than 24 hours from the initial hospital visit), without a precise cause of death. Two months later, the autopsy confirmed that Simon died from "methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus" (MRSA), probably the "community-acquired" strain rather than the hospital-based one. (IDSA, 2006).
In 1967, William H. Stewart, Surgeon General of the United States, declared the war on infectious diseases to be won (Medscape General Medicine 2000). The discovery and promotion of antimicrobial medicine use in the early 20th century dramatically improved a patient's chances of surviving infections. Stewart's declaration reflected the high standard of care the West had come to expect from health care. He was, however, premature in his pronouncement of victory. By the end of the 20th century, many diseases, once easily cured, no longer responded to their antimicrobial treatments because of the emergence of resistance. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to medicines has been around almost as long as antimicrobial medicines themselves. For example, penicillin, the first antibiotic, discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming, was put into large scale use in 1943 to treat soldiers during World War II. Only four years later, cases of bacterial infections resistant to the new "miracle drug"Â began appearing (Lewis 1995).When a microbe can withstand the effects of an antimicrobial medicine, it is considered to be resistant.
As a result of resistance, many antimicrobial medicines are losing their ability to treat infectious diseases. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a natural phenomenon in which microbes acquire genes that enable resistance to antimicrobial agents. Athough antibiotic resistance is most commonly thought of in terms of bacteria, AMR occurs in all microbes, including viruses and parasites.
WARNING
*Please take your drugs according to Doctors prescription.
*Don't abuse Antibiotics to avoid antimicrobial resistance.
In 1967, William H. Stewart, Surgeon General of the United States, declared the war on infectious diseases to be won (Medscape General Medicine 2000). The discovery and promotion of antimicrobial medicine use in the early 20th century dramatically improved a patient's chances of surviving infections. Stewart's declaration reflected the high standard of care the West had come to expect from health care. He was, however, premature in his pronouncement of victory. By the end of the 20th century, many diseases, once easily cured, no longer responded to their antimicrobial treatments because of the emergence of resistance. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to medicines has been around almost as long as antimicrobial medicines themselves. For example, penicillin, the first antibiotic, discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming, was put into large scale use in 1943 to treat soldiers during World War II. Only four years later, cases of bacterial infections resistant to the new "miracle drug"Â began appearing (Lewis 1995).When a microbe can withstand the effects of an antimicrobial medicine, it is considered to be resistant.
As a result of resistance, many antimicrobial medicines are losing their ability to treat infectious diseases. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a natural phenomenon in which microbes acquire genes that enable resistance to antimicrobial agents. Athough antibiotic resistance is most commonly thought of in terms of bacteria, AMR occurs in all microbes, including viruses and parasites.
WARNING
*Please take your drugs according to Doctors prescription.
*Don't abuse Antibiotics to avoid antimicrobial resistance.
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