Antimicrobial Product Use and Human Health

Abstract:

The author of this paper, a student at the University of, argues how the use of antimicrobial products – products which include antibiotics and antibacterial products – pose a threat to human health. There are many contributing factors which include the inappropriate, overuse of antibiotics on common illnesses, the use of antibacterial products, which encourage resistant bacteria growth, and the mere fact that antimicrobial resistant bacteria are easily generated and spread.

The use of antimicrobial products cause various health concerns

Did you know that many of today's common illnesses, including strep throat and staph infections, contain bacteria that are resistant to many or all its known antibiotics? This means that when one's admitted to the hospital for a staph infection, any antibiotic used on the patient will not get rid of the infection. Antimicrobial products include antibiotics, the basic drugs prescribed by a doctor, and antibacterial products, such a baby wipes and hand sanitizers. There are many deaths related to antimicrobial resistant illnesses each year, and it seems as though some people aren't fully aware of antimicrobial product side effects. Why do antimicrobial products raise concern when they were originally made to lessen the concern over infectious bacteria? Many people may choose to ignore or disagree with the fact that antimicrobial products aren't the best solution for eliminating infectious bacteria, when in truth, antimicrobial products support the growth of antimicrobial resistant bacteria. Antimicrobial resistant bacteria, more commonly known as superbugs, spread rather quickly and are easily conjured. Society also uses antimicrobial agents in many household products, which produces "a larger breeding ground" for bacteria to mutate and form more resistant strands of bacteria. Furthermore, because bacteria are able to mutate quickly, antibiotics used to treat infections are becoming scarcer; new drugs that are able to fight the newly resistant bacteria are harder to manufacture. These are reasons as to why the use of antimicrobial products raises a red flag when it comes to human health.

Once a minimal issue, antimicrobial resistance has increased both in the United States and worldwide (Jenkins et al).Within the last decade, deaths related to antimicrobial resistant bacteria have skyrocketed. This is because bacteria swap DNA like teenagers swap clothing; quickly and carelessly. Moreover, to maximize the impact of these methods of bacterial formation, bacterial growth happens to be exponential; one bacterium can multiply itself into a million copies in a matter of hours. How is this a threat to public health? Take this following example. A person with strands of antimicrobial resistant bacteria could simply infect a bathroom door handle in the morning, and by late afternoon,