Antibiotics are a type of drug that are applied for the purpose of preventing the growth of or killing harmful bacteria. In fact, they have been used since the existence of civilizations in “ancient Egypt, Nubia, China, Serbia, Greece, and Rome” according to Wikipedia. They are commonly administered to humans in cases of bacterial infections, as a form of medicine. However, in this report, I am going to examine the consequence of the overuse of antibiotics, and how it can negatively affect us humans.

The reason why antibiotics is best to be used only when necessary is because the overuse of the drug may cause populations of bacteria to develop antibiotic resistance. In simpler terms, the bacteria will not be affected by the antibiotic and may continue to cause bacterial infections in a human. The reason for this occurrence can be explained through natural selection, which states that the organism with the best adaptations to its environment will have a higher possibility of surviving until reproduction, when it can pass on its favorable adaptations to its offspring. Eventually, most or if not all of the population would have favorable adaptations as a result of natural selection.

Applying this concept to bacteria, if bacteria were constantly treated with antibiotics, the small minority of the population that was resistant to the drug would reproduce and pass on its resistant genes to its offspring. After many generations, most of the bacteria population would possess antibiotic resistant genes. Therefore, if antibiotics were administered at this point in time to this population, then it would be ineffective.

Penicillin, for example, was one of the first antibiotics that was widely used. When it was introduced in 1943, it changed the medical field drastically by being effective against a wide range of harmful bacteria. However, by 1960, 80% of the S. aureus (species of infectious bacteria) population was found to be resistant to Penicillin. Currently, around 98% of the population is resistant to Penicillin, making the antibiotic widely ineffective.

Antibiotics have also been commonly administered to livestock. The livestock administered with antibiotics have spread the antibiotic throughout the environment through its feces, speeding up the process of natural selection and explaining why “the European Union has banned the use of antibiotics as growth-promotional agents since 2003” (Wikipedia).

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is therefore a huge threat to human health. Although new antibiotics have been developed since the use of Penicillin, bacteria populations have been found to be resistant to more and more of these new antibiotics. Additionally, less and less of new antibiotics are being developed, increasing the severity of the situation. Therefore, everyone must try their best to not use antibiotics and use it only when it is absolutely necessary, and avoid actions such as self-prescribing antibiotics.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic#Misuse

https://sciencemusicvideos.com/ap-biology/evidence-for-evolution-menu/evidence-for-evolution-interactive-tutorial/