👋 👋 👋 Hello Steemians 👋 👋 👋
Theres a fear that I have in the back of my head that i feel like talking about today. Antibiotic Resistance is something that is usually overlooked since we have had nearly 100 years of comfortable living because of them. People aren't that scared of getting sick anymore thanks to modern medicine. But if it weren't for Antibiotics like Colistin Humanity would be in a really bad place right now.
What Is Colistin?
Colistin is an antibiotic that is produced by certain strains of the Paenibacillus polymyxa bacteria. It is a mixture of cyclic polypeptides that belong to the polymyxins class of antibiotics.
One of the oldest antibiotics available Colistin was first isolated in 1949. After newer forms of antibiotics became available Colistin quickly fell out of favor for use in humans due to it’s overwhelming toxicity on the kidneys.
However, Colistin is still used sparingly in certain cases as the last line of defense when no other antibiotic can do the job.
💊 Antibiotic use on livestock💊
Antibiotic use on farm animals is a common occurrence throughout many parts of the world. Antibiotics are used to help fatten up farm animals and prevent them from contracting and spreading diseases.
Most factory farms around the world use antibiotics that aren't very powerful so the resistance these bacteria attain are relatively weak. However Chinese farms are using Colistin the "last line of defense" on their livestock which leads to very strong Colistin resistant genes.
Since Colistin is in low demand it makes it one of the cheapest antibiotics on the market which makes it attractive to Chinese farmers who love cutting costs any way they can.
😱Alibaba sells Colistin wholesale 😱
⚠Colistin Resistance in China⚠
Scientists who were surveilling a Chinese pig farm in 2015 reported that they discovered a strain of E. Coli with genes that were resistant to Colistin (mcr-1). What's frightening is that this gene is found in the plasmid of the bacterial cell not the chromosomal DNA.
What this means is that this gene can spread easily to neighboring bacteria even bacteria of other species. All it has to do is come in to contact with another bacterial cell.
Mobilized colistin resistance or (mcr-1) isn’t the only Colistin resistant gene. 7 months after the discovery of (mcr-1) they found a similar gene, (mcr-2), and more recently (mcr-3).
The Plasmid where researchers discovered the mcr-3 gene also had 18 similar genes that were resistant to other antibiotics. This has all the possibility of sending modern medicine back to the dark ages.
☣The Post Antibiotic Era☣
Since Alexander Flemming discovered Penicillin in 1928 we have been living comfortably in the Antibiotic Era, but all that might come to an end.
Some scientists believe we are currently in the Post Antibiotic Era after discovering bacterium with Colistin resistance in china and also a new strain of bacterium known as KPC-Oxa 48.
This bacteria can’t be killed by any known antibiotic and signals that we just might be in the post antibiotic era.
If so resistant bacteria and a lack of new antibiotics will mean that infections that were once considered minor could be fatal.
Sometime in the near future doctors might have to end up telling their patients “i’m sorry but theres nothing i can do about your urinary tract infection” or “sorry but there is no antibiotic that can cure this strain of Staph”.
it is estimated that by the year 2050 10 million people will die every year from bacterial infections.
Why Don't Pharmaceuticals Companies just create new Antibiotics?
Antibiotics aren't cheap to make and are rarely profitable for pharmaceutical companies. They would rather spend money developing "Maintenance Drugs" since those need to be taken daily usually for the rest of a persons life.
Antibiotics are meant to be prescribed sparingly in order to decrease the possibility of creating resistant bacteria. This creates a restriction on the amount of sales they will have and Pharma Companies don't like that.
Pharma companies aren't in the business of curing anything. They just want to create drugs that mask symptoms as long as you are on them.