Antibiotic Resistance
(Drug Resistance, Antimicrobial Resistance)

*Drug resistance facts Medically Edited by: Charles P. Davis, MD, PhD

• Drug resistance means any drug classified as an antimicrobial that has been compromised or has reduced or no activity when used to treat certain microbes (viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites).
• Antibiotics are medicines designed to kill or stop or slow growth of bacteria (and some fungi) while an antibacterial substance is designed to kill or slow bacterial growth.
• MRSA and VRE are terms that describe specific types of antibacterial resistance; MRSA describes Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria while VRE describes Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococi.
• Drug resistance occurs when microbes survive and grow in the presence of a drug that normally kills or inhibits the microbe's growth.
• The history of drug resistance began with the development of antimicrobial drugs, and the subsequent ability of microbes to adapt and develop ways to survive in the presence of antimicrobials.
• There are many causes of antimicrobial drug resistance including selective pressure, mutation, gene transfer, societal pressures, inappropriate drug use, inadequate diagnostics, hospital use and agricultural use of drugs.
• Diagnosis of antimicrobial drug resistance is performed by lab tests that challenge the isolated microbes to grow and survive in the presence of the drug.
• Treatment of antimicrobial drug resistance depends on the type of infection and what the patient and their doctor decide.
• Prevention of antimicrobial drug resistance is aided by preventing the overuse and misuse of antimicrobials; infections can be reduced by a healthy lifestyle, hand washing, and other good hygiene methods
• Antimicrobial resistance is a growing health issue because more resistant microbes are being detected and societal pressures often result in overuse.
• Current problems with antimicrobial resistance are predominantly being detected in the following organisms and diseases: MRSA, VRE, E. coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter and in gonorrhea, pneumonia, tuberculosis, influenza, HIV, malaria and others

Source: MedicineNet.com
http://www.medicinenet.com/antibiotic_resistance/article.htm