Super Germ Research Paper
Some call it “horror” and some call it “the super germ”, but now, our always known “regular” bacteria, those one-celled creatures once considered under control with antibiotics, have invaded our hospitals and headlines with a vengeance. The vengeance used against us is caused by an existing organism called necrotizing fasciitis, the so-called flesh-eating bacteria, caused by Group A streptococcus. What this organism does is progressively destroy the human body tissue all the way to the bone. This organism has amazingly outsmarted us of even our most potent drugs. In our community right now, medical researchers are testing antibiotics that may have chemicals to disable the resistance of this organism.
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Long before humans discovered antibiotics, they existed in nature. So naturally, after penicillin was introduced, some germs were already naturally resistant to the drug. As we used more and more of the antibiotics, we incidentally caused drug-resistant germs to progress. So, even if you’ve never misused antibiotics, you could still become infected by bacterium most drugs won’t kill. For each drug, there are germs genetically programmed to survive- some w/ outer walls tough for antibiotic to cross, others with ways to dump the drugs back out before they can work, and yet others can inactivate the antibiotic. Even worse, by passing tiny packets of genetic material to other bacteria, these survivor germs sometimes also pass the formula for resistance to the other bacteria. The best way you can protect yourself and your family against …show more content…
(Macleans’s, pg.48) The American puppeteer Jim Henson died in 1990 from STSS, a disease that has claimed up to 80 percent of its victims. (Maclean’s, pg.48) Of the diseases caused by group A streptococcus, questions have risen such as: ” How can the same organism live fairly harmlessly in the throats and on the skin of up to 15 per cent of children and one percent of adults, but cause debilitating, life-threatening diseases in others?” Scientists now know that “flesh-eating” enzymes-which enable the organism to spread by dissolving surrounding tissue-and other toxins are released by the bacteria to trick the immune system to turn against itself. (Macleans, pg.49) Once enzymes are in the bloodstream, toxins destroy the tissue by breaking down protein. A chain reaction of biochemical signals from toxins results in the body being attacked by its own forces. “It’s like letting commandos into your house because there’s a burglar there, and everyone opens fire all at once,” says Dr. Allison McGeer, a medical microbiologist at Toronto’s Mount Sinai hospital. “The damage that results has very little to do with
Long before humans discovered antibiotics, they existed in nature. So naturally, after penicillin was introduced, some germs were already naturally resistant to the drug. As we used more and more of the antibiotics, we incidentally caused drug-resistant germs to progress. So, even if you’ve never misused antibiotics, you could still become infected by bacterium most drugs won’t kill. For each drug, there are germs genetically programmed to survive- some w/ outer walls tough for antibiotic to cross, others with ways to dump the drugs back out before they can work, and yet others can inactivate the antibiotic. Even worse, by passing tiny packets of genetic material to other bacteria, these survivor germs sometimes also pass the formula for resistance to the other bacteria. The best way you can protect yourself and your family against …show more content…
(Macleans’s, pg.48) The American puppeteer Jim Henson died in 1990 from STSS, a disease that has claimed up to 80 percent of its victims. (Maclean’s, pg.48) Of the diseases caused by group A streptococcus, questions have risen such as: ” How can the same organism live fairly harmlessly in the throats and on the skin of up to 15 per cent of children and one percent of adults, but cause debilitating, life-threatening diseases in others?” Scientists now know that “flesh-eating” enzymes-which enable the organism to spread by dissolving surrounding tissue-and other toxins are released by the bacteria to trick the immune system to turn against itself. (Macleans, pg.49) Once enzymes are in the bloodstream, toxins destroy the tissue by breaking down protein. A chain reaction of biochemical signals from toxins results in the body being attacked by its own forces. “It’s like letting commandos into your house because there’s a burglar there, and everyone opens fire all at once,” says Dr. Allison McGeer, a medical microbiologist at Toronto’s Mount Sinai hospital. “The damage that results has very little to do with