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Amber Long
Professor Campbell
UWRT 1103
April 11, 2016

The Antibiotic Apocalypse: The Future of the World and Antibiotic Resistance
Antibiotic resistance has been a point of discussion for decades, but the public has only become
more aware of it in recent years. As more people become resistant to popular antibiotics
(resulting in illness or even death), people begin to realize the repercussions of an antibiotic
resistant world. As the years go on, researchers and scientists realize that they are running out of
time to find a solution to the problem that has unintentionally been created by man. Although it
has long been known that antibiotic resistance cannot be stopped (only deterred), there are
numerous reasons why researchers have not created a definite solution for the problem. This
paper will explore the future of antibiotic resistance and clarify what will happen to the world if
a solution is not found.
Antibiotics are drugs that fight infections caused by bacteria in both humans and animals. These
drugs either kill bacteria or make it more difficult for bacteria to multiply. They do not have any
effect on viruses. Antibiotic resistance is a worldwide problem. Many forms of resistance spread
with remarkable speed, circulating from continent to continent with ease. Described as
nightmare bacteria by world health leaders, these super bugs pose a catastrophic threat to
people in every country. Each year in the United States, at least 2 million people acquire serious

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infections with bacteria that are resistant to one or more of the antibiotics designed to treat those
infections. At least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these antibiotic-resistant
infections. Many more die from other conditions that were complicated by an antibiotic resistant
infection (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). Although the full impact antibiotic
resistance will have on global health is unknown, it is still recognized as a huge threat. The
World Health Organization released their first report on the issue in 2014 and their findings were
alarming. The report states, Resistance to one of the most widely used antibacterial medicines
for the treatment of urinary tract infections caused by E. colifluoroquinolonesis very
widespread. In the 1980s, when these drugs were first introduced, resistance was virtually zero.
Today, there are countries in many parts of the world where this treatment is now ineffective in
more than half of patients. This bacteria is just one of the many kinds that humans are
developing resistance to.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Antibiotic-resistant infections add
considerable and avoidable costs to the already overburdened U.S. healthcare system. In most
cases, antibiotic-resistant infections require prolonged and/or costlier treatments, extend hospital
stays, necessitate additional doctor visits and healthcare use, and result in greater disability and
death compared with infections that are easily treatable with antibiotics. The total economic cost
of antibiotic resistance to the U.S. economy has been difficult to calculate. Estimates vary but
have ranged as high as $20 billion in excess direct healthcare costs, with additional costs to
society for lost productivity as high as $35 billion a year. The use of antibiotics is the greatest
cause of antibiotic resistance around the world. The CDC has revealed that up to 50% of
antibiotics are not needed or not optimally effective when prescribed. However, antibiotic

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resistance does not only occur as a result of being prescribed in human patients. Antibiotics are
also used to prevent, control, treat disease, and promote growth in food-producing animals.
There is a debate which regards antibiotic use in animals and subsequent negative human health
implications. These negative human health implications were indicated by the release of the
Swann report by the United Kingdom in 1969. A recent report by the National Research Council
(1998) confirmed that there were information gaps that contribute to the difficulty of assessing
potential detrimental effects of antimicrobial use in food on human and animal health.
Regardless of this fact, it has become apparent that animal and human bacterial pathogens have
become resistant to antibiotics. Antimicrobial use in todays animal production environment is
important to current animal health and recent food productions in the United States.
Antimicrobials use in veterinary medicines is critical to the economic health of the food animal
production industry. This use is primarily focused on the treatment and or prevention of animal
disease. Resistance is an inevitable phenomenon and the challenge is in preventing it from
becoming a serious medical health problem. The latest report of the American Society for
Microbiology (ASM) task force on antibiotic resistance stated that there is an urgent need for
more prudent use of antibiotics in both human and veterinary medicine, especially as it relates to
food production. This report emphasized that there is a strong need to better educate human and
veterinary health care professionals in bacterial antimicrobial resistance and prudent use
practices (Taylor & Francis).
In 2015, researchers in Norway began searching for the answers to creating new antibiotics.
They began to look at the Arctic sea waters in the hopes that they hold new bacteria which will
turn into antibiotics. Marcel Jaspars is the founder of PharmaSea project, an EU-funded initiative
to bring research groups together around the world in search of new antibiotics. According to

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Jaspars, "If no one finds new antibiotics for common infections, what will happen is we will go
back to the pre-antibiotic age in which a simple cut could turn into an infection that becomes
deadly. Jaspars realizes that common illnesses are no longer treatable by using standard
antibiotics. The reason that not much research is being done to create new antibiotics is because
it is not cost-effective for pharmaceutical companies to do so. On average, it costs a
pharmaceutical company more than $2 billion to bring a new drug to market. In the case of
antibiotics, the drug is only taken for a short time, and could eventually develop resistance.
That's why large-scale focus has moved away from antibiotics research in the past 30 years. In
the meantime, bacteria have evolved, adapted, and become resistant to many current antibiotics.
The key is finding new chemistry (CNN).
Bacteria can't be resistant to a drug if they've never seen anything like it before. Extreme
environments are providing new places to look. This is the reason why researchers are looking at
organisms that live in the extreme conditions of the arctic waters. Previously, bacteria and fungi
were the main sources for new antibiotics. About 70% of antibiotics come from sediment and
soil samples from land. Jaspars hopes to find new life forms that may give new chemistry that
may be able to treat bacterial infections. The early results of the research are promising.
Compounds being tested in Norway and at Jaspars lab in Scotland are showing signs of
antibacterial properties (CNN).
There are other preventative measures that can be taken in order to deter antibiotic resistance.
The CDC has started to implement four core actions that will help to get rid of antibioticresistance infections in healthcare settings, the community, and food. The first action is
preventing infections in order to reduce the amount of antibiotics used. Drug resistant infections
can be prevented through immunizations, safe food preparation, hand-washing, and using

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antibiotics only when necessary. Preventing infections prevents the spread of resistant bacteria.
The second action is to track data on antibiotic resistant infections, causes of infections, and risk
factors. By tracking this information, experts can develop strategies for preventing resistant
bacteria from spreading.
The third action could be considered the most important one, and it is to change the way that
antibiotics are used. Up to half of antibiotics use in humans and animals is unnecessary and
inappropriate. Stopping some of this unnecessary use would help to slow the spread of antibiotic
resistant bacteria. The fourth and final action is to develop new drugs and diagnostic tests. New
drugs will need to be created to keep up with resistant bacteria, and diagnostic tests will need to
be run in order to track the development of resistance. There are many gaps in our knowledge of
antibiotic resistance. Even for pathogens that are a main cause for concern there is not a
complete picture of prevalence, mortality, and cost of resistance. Data on antibiotic use in human
health care and agriculture are not routinely collected, and programs to improve antibiotic
prescribing are not commonly used in the United States. Advanced molecular detection
technologies can identify antibiotic resistance threats much faster than current practice, but once
again they are not used often in the United States.
Although the CDC is a main contributor in slowing antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance, other
organizations are doing their part to deter it as well. For example, the World Health Organization
also has a global action plan to stop resistance. The WHOs aim is to develop tools and standards
for surveillance of antibiotic resistance in humans, and for integrated surveillance in foodproducing animals and the food chain. Antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance are a global threat
which must be monitored by government sectors and society as a whole. There is a lot of
cooperation involved, and this issue will only be solved if everyone does their part to fix it.

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Though the future may seem bleak, it is completely unpredictable. There is still hope for the fate
of the world and those who inhabit it.
References/ Works Cited:
"Antibiotic/antimicrobial Resistance." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, 02 Mar. 2016. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
Bresnahan, Samantha. "Arctic Bacteria Could Create Life-saving Drugs." CNN. Cable News
Network, 15 Jan. 2015. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
McDermott, P. F., S. Zhao, D. D. Wagner, and R. D. Walker. "The Food Safety Perspective of
Antibiotic Resistance." Taylor & Francis, 1 May 2002. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
"WHO's First Global Report on Antibiotic Resistance Reveals Serious, Worldwide Threat to
Public Health." WHO. N.p., 30 Apr. 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.