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Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of antibiotics June 26, 1945, in The New York Times

MYREPUBLICA.com - News in Nepal: Fast, Full & Factual: Antibiotics are one of the marvels of medical science. Commercial availability of antibiotics in 1940s put an end to relentless suffering of mankind from bacterial infections.

Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of antibiotics, had made the following cautionary statements on June 26, 1945, in The New York Times, “The microbes are educated to resist penicillin and a host of penicillin-fast organisms is bred out. In such cases the thoughtless person playing with penicillin is morally responsible for the death of the man who finally succumbs to infection with the penicillin-resistant organism. I hope this evil can be averted.” But the evil is still being perpetrated after all these years. Deaths out of infections resistant to all available antibiotics are increasingly being reported these days.

Our whole environment is permeated with bacteria and other microbes. Within minutes to hours of coming into this world a baby is covered by millions of bacteria. Thankfully, except for a few, bacteria are harmless or rather helpful in some contexts. When infection occurs, only one or two types of the pathogenic bacteria are responsible. The standard practice in treating these infections is to ascertain the bacterial infection, prescribe a supposedly effective antibiotic and at the same time investigate for exact bacterial etiology and antibiotic sensitivity. But often in common practice, antibiotics are used without confirming the bacterial infection and without the guidance of antibiotic susceptibility reports.

Doctors usually prescribe antibiotics based on non-specific signs and symptoms of a probable bacterial infection. In our country antibiotics are also commonly used on the recommendation of pharmacists or by patients themselves based on their prior experience. These practices lead to overuse of antibiotics. When we use antibiotics, by no means can we target the specific bacteria that are causing the infection; all the bacteria that are susceptible to the antibiotics will die out and the resistant bacteria will be left behind.

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