Stanley ayala ms.zhang 12th 1/21/18 infectious diseaseAntibiotic-related Persuasive EssayAntibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world. New resistance mechanisms are emerging and spreading globally, threatening our ability to treat common infectious diseases. A growing list of infections – such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, blood poisoning, gonorrhoea, and foodborne diseases – are becoming harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat as antibiotics become less effective.Where antibiotics can be bought for human or animal use without a prescription, the emergence and spread of resistance is made worse. Similarly, in countries without standard treatment guidelines, antibiotics are often over-prescribed by health workers and veterinarians and over-used by the public.Without urgent action, we are heading for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries can once again kill.The objective of this essay is to both introduce the dangers of antibiotic misuse to uninformed readers and to persuade audiences to accept the solution of my choice.
I believe that in this country and around the world alike, there are many solutions to prevent these dangers of antibiotic overuse/misuse to all living things like humans and animals. However, in this essay I will only be allowed to use one solution and provide you readers an adequate amount of information, with evidence, prior knowledge and so on and so forth. And also to mention a counterclaim, and a rebuttal , but as long as my point gets across that’s the most important thing. Enjoy and prepared to receive new knowledge on something you would never believe that would be so harmful, but important to know. Enjoy! Now, to begin, there are a variety of dangers that comes with the misuse/overuse of non prescribed and prescribed antibiotics. But for now, let me provide you with background knowledge on antibiotics.
Antibiotics are the medications that you are supposed to slow down or kill the growth of bacteria. Depending on the antibiotic, each one can contain a range of powerful drugs and are mainly used to treat diseases and infections caused by bacteria. Antibiotics however, cannot cure infections caused by viruses like the flu, colds, sore throat and coughs. Moving on to the overuse effects. According to one of my sources, if you overuse, some bacteria can become resistant to even the most powerful antibiotics available today. And overtime, antibiotic resistance is becoming a widespread problem. Now for the misusing dangers.
As told by doctors, pharmacists,scientists, medical experts and etc, you should not take antibiotics without needing to, and if you have to use them, please use them as recommended by your doctor and the label on the prescription.This can be another factor to antibiotic resistance. If you do not need them, do not take them. Bacteria can change/or adapt over time, this is true about bacteria that are exposed to antibiotics but not killed. You should never take anybody else’s antibiotics, even if it is for the same infection or whatever. Every human has different needs and have different responses to different antibiotics. That’s the purpose of having a prescription am i right?Furthermore, moving on to the antibiotics in the farming/food industry.
According to kelsey M. mackin and the article that person wrote for foodsafetynews.com about this topic (another source), Every year more than 400,000 people in America get sick from infections caused by antibiotic-resistant foodborne bacteria, which cause more serious illnesses than other pathogens found in food. Another piece of evidence on why antibiotics is very for the food industry, is because People infected by antibiotic-resistant foodborne bacteria can develop symptoms that are harder treat and more severe, leading to more hospitalizations and deaths than non-resistant pathogens, proving that antibiotic resistance can not only be harmful, but also very fatal! Antibiotics in food is something you will not notice because food brands tend to hide such information, and its not like industries would tell consumers it has it anyway. All humans and animals have bacteria in the gut/stomach The natural bacteria we are supposed to have, but when us humans and animals are given these unnecessary antibiotics, some bacteria can get killed of, but the resistant bacteria can live, grow and multiply within the body, and hurt us internally. Farm animals are unfortunately fed these antibiotics to make them grow faster or help them survive crowded, stressful, and unsanitary conditions.
When these drugs are overused, the future effectiveness of these medicines are being threatened. Yes while those reasons I provided are somewhat valid for the use of antibiotics in farm animals, it still is not justified, and we have to see the bigger picture and what antibiotic resistance can do and we should not take any risks as humans.To embark on my claim, my solution to stop this almost-epidemic of antibiotic resistance, farmers and food companies should drastically reduce the use of antibiotics in animals and other foods.
My reasoning is because it loses the factor of being natural. Artificial foods and all that junk can be slightly unhealthy for us or whatever the case may be, but farm animals should be naturally raised like us humans, and when in factories they get processed, packed,etc, all animals should be natural, and any food containing any farm animals and all foods alike should not have antibiotics. Adding antibiotics into farm animals is a way of genetic modification, and genetic modification is very controversial because of all it’s possible benefits and downsides, but adding antibiotics specifically should not be okay.
Furthermore, another reason why antibiotics should not be placed in our foods and animals is because it is a factor of misusing antibiotics. As mentioned before, humans should only take antibiotics when prescribed. For an example, if you eat chicken with added antibiotics unknowingly, you are misusing antibiotics and taking them for no reason, which can build up a resistance in your body against antibiotics for when you actually need them. The more antibiotic-added food you eat, the more resistance is built against more antibiotics, in which can lead to “multidrug resistant bacteria”. And speaking of unknowingly consuming these types of foods, people should have the right to know if their food has antibiotics in it or not.
Us humans are the consumers. We deserve to be aware of what we eat before we eat.However, even though the use of antibiotics is unhealthy in animals/food for us, we have to understand why they are used in the first place. To protect against diseases and infections, to grow faster, survive crowded conditions and prevent sickness. All those reasons don’t seem that bad. Although I and many others are against the use, it makes sense on why they are used on farm animals. We understand that companies and farmers try to help for the better. But still, hundreds of people have died from antibiotic resistance related to foods, and the numbers of deaths and people falling sick to such a thing deserve to drastically drop, for the better sake of us humans and animals alike.
Animals should be consumed as they are born and raised, nothing else should be added into them. Not only for safety but I believe that natural animal food products would taste better natural. And to conclude, those were my examples, reasons, sources and perspective on a solution. Whether it may be decreasing the use of antibiotics in the farming/food industry, cutting down prescriptions to right amounts and doses, or restricting the common antibiotic use in over-the-counter creams and ointments, etc.
There are many dangers in over consuming, misusing antibiotics and everybody should take there time to not only read this persuasive essay, but learn from it, do your own research and learn more, and always follow directions and know how and what to consume when your time comes to deal with antibiotics. Thank you! SOURCES:www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/10278.phpwww.kidshealth.org/en/parents/antibiotic-overuse.htmlwww.poison.org/articles/2012-oct/antibiotics-overdose-vs-misusehttp://www.foodsafetynews.com/2017/08/antibiotic-resistance-the-food-industry-and-animal-agriculture/#.WmVCANKnHIU https://www.nrdc.org/issues/reduce-antibiotic-misuse-livestock
