Economic Burden of Antibiotic Resistance †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Economic Burden of Antibiotic Resistance. Answer: Introduction: Antibiotic resistance has been recognized as the ability of the bacteria to resist the effects of the antibiotic medication due to altering pattern of the bacteria in a manner that diminishes the efficacy of the drugs administered. In todays scenario of the global context, it has garnered much attention as a major public health concern due to acceleration of its adverse impacts among the citizens. Although the process follows a natural discourse, yet the rampant misuse of antibiotics has accentuated the process making it difficult to treat certain pathogenic infections. Researchers have warned against the future threats when medical procedures comprising of major surgery, organ transplantation, cancer chemotherapy and treatment for preterm babies may witness a major setback due to faulty use of antibiotics (Laxminarayan et al. 2013). Concomitant with the beneficial aspects of antibiotics, there remains possibility of encountering debilitating conditions due to misuse of antibiotics t hat often culminates in antibiotic resistance. Thus, in keeping with the rise in disease burden because of antibiotic resistance, medical expenditure and rates of both morbidity as well as mortality shoots up alongside increase in the duration of hospital stay. Empirical evidences have suggested that increase in the antibiotic resistance pose potential threats in terms of decreasing the safety and efficacy of surgical procedures and immunosuppressant chemotherapy. Thus, it has been emphasized across relevant study to amend the antibiotic prophylaxis recommendations in view of the increased rates of antibiotic resistance. Hence, prompt and prudent medical interventions through active involvement of healthcare professionals are solicited (Teillant et al. 2015). Infectious diseases have been cured since past few decades under the boon of antibiotic medications thereby mitigating illness and rates of mortality largely. However, owing to the wide and long-term application of antibiotics, the bacteria that are to be killed by these drugs have adapted themselves allowing for the diminished impacts of the drugs and causing decreasing their effectiveness. Apart from the detrimental health impacts, antibiotic resistance exerts its effect by leveraging economic burden to the affected individuals. Effect of antibiotic resistance on clinical outcomes has been determined by virtue of suitable procedure to provide an insight on the economic implication of resistance. Quantification of the disease burden associated with antibiotic resistance is crucial for understanding the economic burden due to antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. These measures will aid in the working of the policymakers and healthcare personnel to make appropriate choices for combating the situation pragmatically (Gandra, Barter and Laxminarayan 2014). Further, it has been argued in literature that the biggest challenge for now is to preserve and maintain the effectiveness of currently available ant ibiotics as antibiotic resistance is increasing while novel antibiotic drug development has declined. In this regard, report has recommended the utilization of combination of antimicrobial therapy rather than monotherapy to account for broad-spectrum application, synergistic impact in conjunction with abatement of emerging drug resistance (Mehta et al. 2014). Therefore, it may be indicated that effective control of antibiotic resistance may only be streamlined through coordination and cooperation among the members of the medical fraternity alongside application of suitable approaches to raise awareness about the issue. References Gandra, S., Barter, D.M. and Laxminarayan, R., 2014. Economic burden of antibiotic resistance: how much do we really know?.Clinical Microbiology and Infection,20(10), pp.973-979. Laxminarayan, R., Duse, A., Wattal, C., Zaidi, A.K., Wertheim, H.F., Sumpradit, N., Vlieghe, E., Hara, G.L., Gould, I.M., Goossens, H. and Greko, C., 2013. Antibiotic resistancethe need for global solutions.The Lancet infectious diseases,13(12), pp.1057-1098. Mehta, K.C., Dargad, R.R., Borade, D.M. and Swami, O.C., 2014. Burden of antibiotic resistance in common infectious diseases: role of antibiotic combination therapy.Journal of clinical and diagnostic research: JCDR,8(6), p.ME05. Teillant, A., Gandra, S., Barter, D., Morgan, D.J. and Laxminarayan, R., 2015. Potential burden of antibiotic resistance on surgery and cancer chemotherapy antibiotic prophylaxis in the USA: a literature review and modelling study.The Lancet infectious diseases,15(12), pp.1429-1437.