Who Let the Bugs Out?: Exploring the Antimicrobial Resistance Phenomenon

Taylor, Gayle

Saturday, 29 October 2011

Gayle Taylor, RNC, MSN, CCE
College of Nursing, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to identify which infectious diseases are recognized as the basis for the global health concern that is antimicrobial resistance.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to describe at least three measures to prevent infection that will allow the decreased use of antimicrobials.

An emerging problem that should be of concern to global health is the issue of antimicrobial resistance. When did the entire world begin taking antimicrobial agents, instead of utilizing simple measures such as hand-washing, immunizations, cleaning food staples, and controlling the path of an infection? This issue is not a new one, but has recently been recognized as a future threat to our world.

Diseases that account for most of the world’s antimicrobial resistance are the same ones that account for the largest mortality rates. Some examples are: malaria, AIDS, and tuberculosis. Rampant use of antimicrobials does not manifest itself as an imperative in rich nations, where cleanliness is a given, but in the poorer nations, mortality rates are climbing at alarming rates because of over-use and resistance to treatment.

Because we are world travelers, we cannot contain the infections that travel with us, but we can contain the over-use of treatments that manifest as eventual resistance to those treatments. An urgent call has gone out to all health care organizations to educate the public and contain this phenomenon of antimicrobial resistance before it is too late.

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