The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Antibiotics and Antibacterial Products

1. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Antibiotics and Antibacterial Products An Interdisciplinary Approach to Reducing Antibiotic Resistance

2. The War Against Bacteria; Do we really need them???

3. Yes! • To decay plants and animals to put nutrients back into the environment • There are 10 times as man microbial on and in us than there are actual human cells • We need it to break down food to digests • We eat them for food (to make bread, beer, wine, yogurt, cheese) • Marine animals live off phytoplankton's as a main food source • Microbial symbioses is needed to allow plants to grow • Biodegrading waste generated for industry and households • They help detoxify soil and water dump sites • Used in water filtration to remove organic materials for filth waters that is eventually returned to rivers ad streams as our drinking supply • About 70% of antibiotics are products of microbial fermentation • Vitamin B12, riboflavin, and vitamin C are products of fermented microbial

4. Bacteria + Antibiotic = Resistance

5. Why Do Bacteria Resist? • Because they want to survive • They are fighters • Some bacteria can change and adapt to their surroundings within seconds • That is why they have survived for billions of years

6. The Problem with Resistance • Increased Morbidity/Mortality • Increased Incidence of Disease • Increased Duration of Illness • Increased Cost of Treatment

7. How Does Resistance Occur? • Misuse of antibiotics-the fear of germs from people, plants, food, ad in our home • Anomalous Combinations-drug resistant microbes • Enhanced transmissions of resistance factors-increased efficency with resistance exchenage; global travel, budget cuts in health care, increased number of immuneosuppressed people, medicle technologies • Reservoir Hypothesis- increased pressure by drug companies to take more antibiotics, therefore creating more and more thresholds to the products. Resistant bacteria begin to thrive, creating a reserve f antibiotic-reistant bacteria. http://www.actionbioscience.org/newfrontiers/kardar.html

8. Where are all these Antibiotics coming from?

9. Household Products • Over 700 “antibacterial” products are sold to the consumer • Ex. Sweat socks, toothpaste, kitchen plastics, cements, paints, cleaning products • Microbes resist their compounds and have been documented in nature • These products end up in the sewer or landfills

10. Antibiotic / Antimicrobial • Antibiotic = Chemical produced by a microorganism that kills or inhibits the growth of another microorganism • Antimicrobial Agent = Chemical that kills or inhibits the growth of microorganisms http://microvet.arizona.edu/Courses/MIC438/decker/AntibioticRes/Antibiotic%20Resistance.pdf http://microvet.arizona.edu/Courses/MIC438/decker/AntibioticRes/Antibiotic%20Resistance.pdf

11. Antimicobial Agents • Disinfectant: antimicrobial agent used only on inanimate objects • Chemotheraputic Agent: antimicobial agent that can be used internally http://microvet.arizona.edu/Courses/MIC438/decker/AntibioticRes/Antibiotic%20Resistance.pdf

12. Disinfectant • Pasteurization: destruction of all disease-producing microorganisms or reduction in spoilage microorganisms • Sterilization: killing or removal of all living organisms and their viruses

13. Sewage • Disposal of unused or outdated antibiotics are flushed down the toilette • Ingested Antibiotics are not completely absorbed by the body and pass through as waste. • The waste then goes to the water treatment plant. • The treated water is then pumped into our water systems • How does it effect the natural eco-system? • Do we drink this water? http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/meade_callahan.html

14. Runoff • Rivers and lakes are contaminated with urban effluent run off. • What do you use to wash your car? • Do you use pesticides on your garden? • Agricultural run off from farms also have a greater antibiotic resistant bacterial populations. Why?

15. Medical Waste • Discharge from hospitals cause an increase in bacterial populations resistant to certain antibiotics • Both treated and untreated medical waste is disposed of in the domestic sewage systems • No other precautions are taken for these more denser disposal areas • Antibiotic sales total $8 billion each year • 50 million pounds each year, with 25 million pounds prescribed to humans

16. Where are the other 25 million pounds of Antibiotics coming from?

17. Animal Products • Antibiotics are often added to animal feeds and fishery waters to promote growth • As humans we are ingesting these antibiotics too and it is possible that antibacterial resistance is growing in our guts • There is also a release to open waters from aquaculture which contains medicated feed • There is the potential of release in the future from molecular farming • Bioaccumulation occurs and is stored in women's breast milk which is then fed to babies

18. Fruits, Vegetables and Grains • Approx. 300,000 pounds of antibiotics are used on plant production each year • The sprays help with bacterial infections, however, there are now resistant bacteria crops • Most of the antibiotics come off the produce and are washed into the soil ending up in the ground water

20. Assignment Microbe News You are the producer of a local news program. Design a ten-minute news story to tell about the dangers of antibiotics in the environment. Include examples of the diversity of antibiotics that are entering the environment and how they are dispersed. You can present the story in class, videotape it, record it, or create a Power Point demo, or hand it in as in the form of a journal or news paper article. • Minimum of 500 words • Each member of the group needs to hand in the answers to the questions below. Can work on them together or separately but must hand in or e-mail different copies • Should include portions from all three lessons of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Hand washing lesson, storm drain lesson, and Dr. guest speaker lesson) http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/meade_callahan.html

21. Questions refer to the articleMicrobes: What They Do & How Antibiotics Change Themby Maura Meade-Callahan • 1. What effect does the use of antibacterial agents have on our natural environment? Hypothesize how these agents will affect the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. • 2. How many products do you know about that are manufactured with the help of bacteria? Make a point form list. • 3. What part of the article did you already know about? What part of the article was the most shocking to you? • 4. Will the information gathered from the article and the three the lessons on the Good, The Bad and the Ugly of Antibiotics and Antibiotic products change any of your current behaviours? How and why? • 5. Hypothesize what would happen if all bacteria in the world were destroyed. • 6. What do you suggest would be an effective message on prescription antibiotic labels that would help consumers better understand antibiotic use?