The usefulness of antibiotics is indisputable, but that does not necessarily imply that these wonderful drugs possess no negative flip side. It has been demonstrated that antibiotics indiscriminately wipe out both normal and abnormal gastrointestinal and vulvo-vaginal flora. The decimation of normal flora promotes the proliferation of yeast (mainly of the genus Candida). Antibiotic associated diarrhea has been linked to the growth of Clostridium difficile: a bacterial species that only thrives in the absence of normal gastrointestinal flora.
Human overuse as well as the widespread use of antibiotics in animal husbandry as growth promoters has been responsible for the co-resistance and cross resistance to multiple antibiotics. Even though the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance vary from one bacterial species to another, the main antibiotic resistance mechanism is through genetic antibiotic resistance mechanisms and horizontal transfer of resistance via plasmids. The net result is reduced effectiveness of antibiotics in the treatment and management of diseases of bacterial aetiology.
This paper is a concise exposition of the effects of prolonged usage of antibiotics in humans drawing from a wide range of research data and presentations detailed in books, Ebsco Host database, the Internet as well as one-one in interviews with 5 physicians who have closely studied such impacts on pediatric patients. Introduction Ever since the discovery of antibiotics and their usefulness in therapeutic interventions, they have risen to prominence owing to their ability to improve the quality of life through the treatment and management of a wide array of diseases of bacterial aetiology.
They are powerful drugs for disease management making them fundamental alternatives for the prolongation of the natural span of life. Antibiotics have unquestionably saved more lives than any other drug ever discovered by man. However, it does not necessarily imply that antibiotics do not possess the flip side. Individuals susceptible to antibiotic therapies can break into hives when administered with penicillin. Ciproflaxin inflames and weakens tendons, while Clindamycin has been shown to possess the capacity to cause life threatening dehydration in humans.
Clindamycin can also cause diarrhea. Diarrhea, adverse gastrointestinal symptoms, lactose intolerance, antibiotic resistance and cancer risk are manifestations which typify the plethora of adverse side effects of antibiotics that are more often than not buried deep under the gloss of antibiotic efficacy. Currently, after decades of overuse in human medicine and animal production industries, the threat of antibiotic resistance has become a reality.
Resistance in certain species of antibiotics has been attributed to inadequate and inappropriate use of antibiotic drugs (Andersson 2005). Through resistance genes strains of bacteria are becoming more and more resistant to drugs in everyday usage. The transfer of antibiotic resistance from one bacterial species to another is a real threat to the continued efficacy of antibiotics in the treatment and management of diseases of bacterial aetiology.
The inevitability of antibiotic resistance is driven by the injudicious and indiscriminate prescription of antibiotics. The use of antibiotics in the treatment of viral diseases in some parts of the world is widespread even though it has been repeatedly proven that cold cannot be treated by antibiotics owing to its viral aetiology (Want & Holmes 1999; Martinez 2008). Additionally, over prescription of broad spectrum antibiotics to target numerous bacterial species has also worsened the development of antibiotic resistance.
Despite the fact that antibiotics should only be prescribed to act against specific diagnostically proven bacterial species, the fact that most of these drugs can be bought over the counter makes it difficult to control their use in unrecommended situations. All these factors promote the development of antibiotic resistance in the absence of circumspection in antibiotic prescription and usage. In context, bacteria possess a wide array of mechanisms used to withstand extreme environmental conditions and toxic compounds like antibiotics.
For more than six decades following the discovery of antibiotics, a combination of genetic and biochemical antibiotic transfer mechanisms have been developed to ensure survival in lethal environments. Resistance can be acquired through point mutations and gene amplifications which cause an alteration in the existing bacterial genome thereby conferring the bacterial strain with properties that were hitherto nonexistent. Horizontal gene transfer from within or between species is achieved by the transfer of plasmids, integrons or transposons leads to the creation of novel clones with the capability of multi resistance (Andersson 2005).