Science and Impact on Society

Astri Desmayanti

Antibiotics are among the most important scientific discoveries of the past 300 years. A
class of medication known as an antibiotic works to eradicate germs, which are frequently the
root of illness. The antibiotic Penicillin was discovered in 1928 by Alexander Fleming. The
antibacterial compound's mold genus, Pennicilium, served as the inspiration for the name
Penicillin. Penicillin kills bacteria by detonating their cell walls, which prevents the cross-linking
process that takes place when the peptidoglycan of the bacterial cell wall is assembled. Due to
the peptidoglycan's fragilization a result, water pressure is allowed to enter the cell body, causing
the cell wall to inflate until it ruptures. Penicillin underwent its first productive clinical test on
animals and people in 1941. A police officer who participated in a clinical trial had eyes that
were blind only as a result of an infection brought on by scratching rose thorns (Johnson, 2021).
The patient's condition got better and stabilized after the medication was administered.
A significant medical revolution was made possible by penicillin. Because tuberculosis
had a high fatality rate before the use of drugs. The only way to cure TB, which has a high
mortality rate, is to provide clean air and nutritious food, both of which are ineffective at
eradicating the bacteria that cause TB sickness (Sealey, 2015). Organ transplantation has also
been transformed by antibiotics, making it safer to do. Because the patient's immune system
attacked the new organ they wished to transplant before antibiotics were developed, surgeons
had trouble doing organ transplants. Antibiotics enable the immune system to be suppressed so
that organ transplants can proceed without difficulty.
However, there are 700,000 antibiotic-resistant bacterial fatalities worldwide annually,
including 230,000 fatal cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (WHO, 2019). Antibiotic
residue consumed by humans accelerates the development of bacterial resistance because of this
phenomenon, which is brought about by the unchecked overuse of antibiotics in the cattle
industry. Antibiotic resistance in some microorganisms that cause pneumonia, gonorrhea, and
tuberculosis makes treatment challenging. If we don't take action soon, we'll enter a post-
antibiotic period similar to that of World War II, where there won't be any infections that can be
cured because the germs that cause them are resistant to antibiotics. According to researchers,
bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) would result in 1.27 million fatalities by 2091 (Murray
et al., 2022). At the 68th World Health Assembly in May 2015, a global action plan to combat
the growing issue of antibiotic and other antimicrobial medication resistance was approved.
Increasing knowledge and comprehension of AMR through effective communication,
specifically through education and training, is one of the plan's key goals (WHO, 2022).

References

Johnson, S. (2021). How Humanity Gave Itself an Extra Life. The Newyork Times Magazines.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/27/magazine/global-life-span.html
Murray, C. J., Ikuta, K. S., Sharara, F., Swetschinski, L., Aguilar, G. R., Gray, A., Han, C.,
Bisignano, C., Rao, P., Wool, E., Johnson, S. C., Browne, A. J., Chipeta, M. G., Fell, F.,
Hackett, S., Haines-Woodhouse, G., Hamadani, B. H. K., Kumaran, E. A. P.,
McManigal, B., … Naghavi, M. (2022). Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial
resistance in 2019: A systematic analysis. The Lancet, 399(10325), 629–655.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02724-0
Sealey, T. (2015). Life before antibiotics (and maybe life after an antibiotic apocalypse). BBC
News. https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-34866829
WHO. (2019). New report calls for urgent action to avert antimicrobial resistance crisis.
https://www.who.int/news/item/29-04-2019-new-report-calls-for-urgent-action-to-avert-
antimicrobial-resistance-crisis
WHO. (2022). World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2022.
https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-antimicrobial-awareness-week/2022