Antibiotic resistance is recognized as a global threat and the misuse of antibiotics in dentistry partly contributes to it. As the general public, we often concern about the antibiotic prescription by a physician. But are we even aware of the magnitude of antibiotic usage in dentistry?
One should always finish the prescribed course of antibiotics! How true is this cardinal rule? It became a debatable topic lately as many news articles are coming up with contrasting standpoints. This could create ambiguity in people’s minds as their doctor advises them to always finish the prescribed course of antibiotics.
Wolbachia bacteria infect a wide variety of arthropods (such as insects, spiders, crustaceans) and nematodes. Wolbachia is a symbiotic bacterium that lives inside the cells of its host. It mainly affects and manipulates the reproductive tissues – testes and ovaries of the host. Applications of Wolbachia bacteria hold great potential for human benefits.
Scientists unveiled that the smell of rain is called petrichor and it is due to a chemical called geosmin, produced by streptomyces bacteria found in the soil.
Antibiotics is been naturally produced by bacteria and fungi for millions of years as secondary metabolites at a concentration much lower than the therapeutic dose.?But why the microbes are producing antibiotics if it is meant to destroy them? And what are antibiotics used for, by the microbes that produce them???
The only reason for antibiotic resistance is the ?antibiotics? itself. Antibiotics stood in the way of bacteria?s survival and like any other organism, bacteria responded by evolving for its survival, becoming resistant to antibiotics. However, there are 6 major human-driven factors exerting selective pressure on the bacteria to become antibiotic-resistant.
Bacteria incorporate a diverse array of sophisticated mechanisms for?self-defense?against antibiotics. Very often multiple mechanisms are accommodated simultaneously to assure their absolute safety from the antibiotics.?Bacteria work to stop the antibiotics reach their target (specific sites or receptors on or inside the bacteria) at a high concentration or modify/bypass the target in the bacteria to protect themselves from the detrimental effects of the antibiotics.?
During the hospital visits we tend to observe whether the needles are new or reused, the phlebotomist is using gloves or not, the cleanliness of bed linen?
However, have you thought how clean the enterooscope or a colonoscope is?? These instruments are very sensitive to high-resolution cameras and expensive electronic circuits and not possible to use new equipment for every single patient undergoing the procedure.
The story of the bacterium Thermus aquatics describes a harmonious relationship between mother nature and human life in a precise way. Moreover, this bacterium changed the life we live by making a lot of advancements in science and technology, which can be related to everyday life than constricting it in the science workbench.??
Are the viruses causing infectious diseases in humans are entirely new, and they didn?t exist in the past? Or the viruses always coexisted with us, and suddenly started infecting humans? Rather viral infectious diseases were occurring in humans in some parts of the world, but global travel and media exposure made you connect with it?