Argument Against Bacteria

In the article, “Some of My Best Friends are Germs” Michael Pollan emphasizes the importance of microbes and how they affect our bodies and health. I thought a lot of this information to be interesting such as how microbes make up 99% of our bodies and how they contribute to the way we metabolize foods. I wasn’t aware of how microbes such as bacteria outnumber our body’s cells but yet fascinatingly interact with host cells to create optimal health. It was surprising to read that gut bacteria can alter the way we store fat or the way we respond to hormones that make us feel hungry or full which can ultimately lead to obesity because most often we hear that its due to an unhealthy lifestyle.

In the article “The Ultimate Social Network,” the author, Jennifer Ackerman, writes about the human microbiome. She explains the research on this and on two specific bacteria, Bacteroides Thetaiotaomicron and Helicobacter Pylori. She also talks about how these microorganisms survive in the human body.

Dr. Moalem’s Survival of the Sickest provides insight into the biology of evolution and its connections to various diseases, whether it be a mild flu or stage 4 lung cancer. The book discloses the astonishing fact that every organism is affecting the development of another organism, or as he puts it, “The bacteria and viruses and parasites that cause disease in us have affected our evolution as we have adapted in ways to cope with their effects.” (Moalem XV) Another frequently mentioned topic in Survival of the Sickest is natural selection. Natural selection is most famously known through Charles Darwin, in which Christ’s College Cambridge states, “Evolutionary change comes through the production of variation in each generation and different

Imagining the Post-Antibiotics Future is an essay written by Maryn McKenna to emphasize focus on our lack of appreciation for what antibiotics have done for us and will continue to do for us, but only if we let them. She presents a very insightful and eye opening argument. She relies heavily on a very personal story as well as many facts and research to create such a convincing argument.

Infectious diseases are the invasion of host organisms, (microbes) which can be invisible to the eyes. The microbes are also known as pathogens. A microbe infects an organism (which is known as the host of the microbe). In a human host, the microorganism causes a disease by either disrupting an important body process or by stimulating the immune system to mount a defensive reaction. The pathogen, interferes with the normal functioning of the host and can lead to chronic wounds, gangrene, loss of an infected limb, and even death. The host's response to infection is inflammation. An interaction between parasite and host, whereby the relationship is beneficial for the former but detrimental to the latter, is characterized as parasitism.

Although microscopic single-celled organisms inhabited earth long before humans evolved from their primate ancestors, they continue to coexist and coevolve with humans today, flourishing as both harmless and deadly companions. Within her literary work Deadly Companions: How Microbes Shaped Our History, microbiologist Dorothy Crawford begins with a dramatic account of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the first pandemic of the twenty-first century. Crawford travels back in time four billion years ago to the origin of microbes, recounting the evolutionary history of microbes, showing how microbes spread and cause epidemics, and revealing how coevolution yields host resistance. Furthermore, Crawford explores the intertwining history of microbes and humans, with the purpose to reveal the link between the emergence of microbes and the cultural development of man.

According to Ron Dagan, acute otitis media (middle ear infection) are most common in kids 3 months old to 3 years old. (Dagan p. 1). In Clinical Bacteriology of Recurrent Otitis Media with Effusion, it states, “antibiotic resistance has increased due to indiscriminate overuse and misuse of antibiotics.” The overuse of an antibiotic and/or using the wrong antibiotic to treat the sickness has made bacteria more resistant to the antibiotics. Later on in the passage, Dagan adds, “we collected nine hundred middle ear fluid samples for six hundred fifty four pediatric patients who underwent ventilation tube insertion due to OME…” “Antibiotic sensitivity tests showed that the two groups differed in sensitivity to penicillin and erythromycin, but no other antibiotics.” (Article abstract).Out of the nine hundred samples they took, the group showed the bacteria was defeated by the antibiotic penicillin and the antibiotic erythromycin but the other antibiotics didn’t touch the bacteria. The experiment showed people only two antibiotics were fighting off the bacteria. The two of which are being over used and over time will no longer work. If the bacteria continues to grow bigger and better, the antibiotics for ear infections aren’t going to work which leads to hearing loss, even to the extent of going

Our world is composed of many bacteria’s’ that can either help or destroy us. Therefore, its’s imperative to learn and study them. The purpose of the lab was to put into action the methods that have been learned in the laboratory to determine our unknown bacteria.

In the book Missing Microbes, the author, Dr. Martin J. Blaser discusses different types where the mysterious microbes are to be found. Dr. Martin also discusses his hypothesis in which talks about how over use of antibiotics has permanently changed the microbiome that humans live in, causing an increase in more modern diseases. The way Blaser lays the book is more like a journey; he traces his footsteps, and has the readers following the lead anxiously waiting on what he will inform them. There are a lot of doors in Science. Dr. Blaser chose to enter the door where facts and stories are to be learned everyday, in which there is no end, making that the beauty of science. Dr. Blaser starts the book by describing how much humans have been using antibiotics, describing the use as more of an addiction. Dr. Blaser talks about how individuals use antibiotics in order for them to fight against bacterial infections. Also discusses using antibiotics as an agricultural input for industrial farming operations. In the text, Dr. Martin J. Blaser does argue against antibiotics. Dr. Martin Claims the reason in a clear thoughtful

Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria reformat themselves in order to become unaffected by the drugs or substances created to terminate them (About Antimicrobial Resistance). They gain resistance to the drugs which causes the drugs to be ineffective of use and leads to more harm. Antibiotic resistance commonly occurs within patients because of physicians misusing or overusing antibiotics. This creates a common resistance to patients and resulting in the constant creation for new antibiotics that would treat the bacteria (Antibiotic Resistance). The main conflict generally evolves from medical stewardship where physicians have the responsibility to optimally heal their patients to their best efforts (Medical Ethics and the Stewardship

Throughout Survival of the sickest by Dr. Sharon Moalem, a scientific story telling form of writing takes place. Dr. Moalem puts well thought out scientific phenomenons supported by a history of evolutionary evidence that we see in our world today. Perhaps its largely due to his background studies in the emerging fields of neurogenetics and evolutionary medicine.

Antibiotics are a form of medicine that seek out and destroy the bacteria that make us feel sick. Antibiotics work great against bacteria, however they don’t work against viruses. Penicillin was the first antibiotic to be discovered by Alexander Fleming, and it was first used to treat infections. Essentially, these powerful medicines fight bacterial infections, and have the potential to save lives. They work by either killing the bacteria or retain them from reproducing, with the help of our body’s natural defense system.

In the first four chapters of Deadly Companions author Crawford takes us on a journey on how microbes shaped our history. Starting with when microbes first appeared on planet Earth to Darwinian evolution of single celled organism. In chapter two “Our Microbial Inheritance” she discussed the relationship of microbes with hunter-gatherers and early settlements; and their relationship to disease. She looks at the impact of microbes on the lives of individuals and the population as a whole.

Alexander Zaitchik does an excellent job at arguing why antibiotics should be regulated in animals. In the article, Zatchik discusses how hospitalization for antibiotic resistant salmonella has doubled in the past years, due to the individuals eating chicken filled with antibiotics (Zaitchik). Antibiotics were created to help people 's immune system protect against sickness and bacterial disease, but now the over use of antibiotics have allowed bacteria to grow resistant to treatments. The only reason why Congress has not heard a trail over this topic is because money is more important them citizens lives. The agriculture industry pays thousands of dollars in lobby to stop hearings opposed to antibiotics (Zaitchik). If the industry focused on

INTRODUCTION: Quick look at your hands do you see them. (attention) Do I see what you might be asking? Well the millions of bacteria that are currently hanging out on your hands. (credibility) I am here today to focus in on how you can protect yourself from these invisible killers. Probably the single most repeated thing in my nursing classes has been hand washing. (rapport) You might be thinking well I am not a nursing student so this does not apply to me, but I hope to prove to you the importance of washing your hands several times a day. The problem I want to focus on is that many people don’t wash their hands, people need to wash their hands, and you should wash your hands many times a day. (preview)