Ida Kusuma

Pharmaceutical Engineering

Semester 4

A hundred years ago, infectious diseases were the major cause of death in most countries on earth. The discovery of penicillin, the first natural antibiotic, by Alexander Fleming brought many of the bacterial caused diseases under control. However, the efficacy of antibiotics decreases over time because after a certain period of time, more and more bacteria will become resistant. Thus, the antibiotics will be rendered useless against bacterial diseases and mankind will be helpless against bacterial diseases. Some bacteria will evolve defense mechanisms against antibiotics and become resistant to their effects. When the bacteria which are not resistant are killed, the resistant ones will keep living and reproduce over and over again. After a certain amount of time, only the resistant bacteria are left. As the resistance develops, bacteria can no longer be killed by antibiotics and antibiotics can no longer cure diseases. One of the antibiotic resistant bacteria is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). MRSA is the bacterium that causes several infections which are difficult to treat in human. MRSA is the strain of Staphylococcus aureus that has evolved resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics. More than 60% of Staphylococcus aureus are resistant to methicillin now. Other bacteria that have evolved resistance are Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Haemophilus influenza. Antibiotics have played a major role in decreasing rates of bacterial diseases in last hundred years. But now the efficacy of antibiotics has dropped critically and the diseases will spread and cause an epidemic. Scientists have to find new kind of medicine that can replace the antibiotics immediately so that mankind can survive.