Super Bug

Antibiotics have come a long way since the first antibiotic (Penicillin) was discovered. Penicillin curred many disease crippling bacteria, but over time bacteria was able to mutate and become antibiotic resistant. Even though recent technology and new studies have advanced our antibiotics , bacteria still manage to survive and continue to become antibiotic resistant and that is why they are known as "The Super Bug".

Horizontal Gene Transfer

During bacterial evolution, the ability of Bacteria and Archaea to adapt to new environments most often results from the acquistion of new genes through horizontal transfer rather than by the alteration of gene functions through numerous point mutations. Horizontal gene transfer is defined to be the movement of genetic material between bacteria other than by descent in which information travels through the generations as the cell divides. It is most often thought of as a sexual process that requires a mechanism for the mobilization of chromosomal DNA among bacterial cells. However, because they are unable to reproduce sexually, bacterial species have acquired several mechanisms by which to exchange genetic materials. These mechanisms are transformation, conjugation, and transduction.

Each of these methods of genetic exchange can introduce sequences of DNA that share little homology with the remaining DNA of the recipient cell. If there are homologous sequences shared between the donor DNA and the recipient chromosome, the donor sequences can be stably incorporated into the recipient chromosome by genetic recombination. If the homologous sequences flank sequences that are absent in the recipient, the recipient may acquire an insertion from another strain of unrelated bacteria. Such insertions can be small or quite large. Large insertions that have been acquired from another bacterium (often inferred from differences in GC content or codon usage) and are absent from related strains of bacteria are called "islands".

Here is an illistration of the three mechanisms of horizontal gene transfer
http://www.textbookofbacteriology.net/HorizontalTransfer.gif

MRSA

MRSA was first noted in 1961, about two years after the antibiotic methicillin was initially used to treat S. aureus and other infectious bacteria. The resistance to methicillin was due to a penicillin-binding protein coded for by a mobile genetic element termed the methicillin resistant gene (mecA). In recent years, the gene has continued to evolve so that many MRSA strains are currently resistant to several different antibiotics.

Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a type of bacteria that is resistant to certain antibiotics. These antibiotics include methicillin and other more common antibiotics such as oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin. Staph infections, including MRSA, occur most frequently among people in hospitals and healthcare facilities who have weak immune systems.

MRSA infections that occur in healthy people who have not been recently hospitalized or had a medical procedures are known as community-associated (CA)-MRSA infections. These infections are usually skin infections, such as abscesses, boils, and other pus-filled lesions.

Here is a link to show you what some cases of MRSA look like http://home.messiah.edu/~ez1154/mrsapictures.html
More about MRSA
http://www.visualdxhealth.com/diseaseGroups/mrsa.htm

Spreading

Hospitals serve as centers for the formation and transmission of drug-resistant organisms. About 2 million Americans are infected in hospitals each year and more than half of these infections resist at least one antibiotic, according to Dennis Maki, a University of Wisconsin-Madison expert in hospital infections. In 1992, 13,300 hospital patients were killed by drug-resistant bacteria in the United States. Bacteria learn from our mistakes. Once resistance develops, all offspring of that bacterium get it. Once the resistant strain is made, everybody who is infected with it will have that resistance problem.

Bacteria Resistance

Antibiotics are used to treat many diseases. Penicillin was one of the first antibiotics to treat many disease crippling bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus was the first bug to battle the medical miricale penicillin.

Resistance to antibiotics can form in several ways. Resistance can occur as a result of genetic events causing alterations in the pre-existing bacterial genome such as
point mutations and gene amplifications. The other major mechanism is horizontal gene transfer between bacteria both within and between species, where transposons, integrons or
plasmids are introduced into an organism.

Here is a link that describes and shows how Bacteria can become antibiotic resistant.
http://www.dhf.uu.se/antibiotics_participant/new_pdf/Bacteria.pdf

Introduction

Antibiotic resistance is the abilty of a microorganism to withstand the effects of antibiotics. One of the first antibiotic resistant bugs was Staphylococcus. Scientists are dismayed to discover that some bacteria have become resistant to antibiotics through various alterations, or mutations, in their DNA. Hospitals have become a major breeding ground for antibiotic resistant bacteria. These bacteria muiltiply in an environment full of sick people who have poor immune systems and where antibiotics have eliminated competing bacteria that are not resistant.

Ty Williams-Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria

Welcome to my BIOL 1010 blog. My name is Ty Williams, and I am in Mrs. Graugnard's BIOL 1010 N01 class. My topic for this project is
antibiotic resistant bacteria. I hope you find this blog to be interesting and informative. Thanks for visiting.