When we first discovered antibiotics such as penicillin, we thought it was a wonder drug. Today, many infectious bacteria have developed antibiotic resistance. For example, there are increasing reports of patients getting infected with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) during hospital stays. Consider how drug resistant bugs evolve and how bacteria become drug resistant. Think about how human behaviors contribute to resistance to drugs. If health professionals can no longer prescribe penicillin or methicillin for MRSA treatment, they need to have new types of antibiotic drugs. Antimicrobial drugs target certain essential functions of the microbe and have five modes of action from which new drugs can be developed. Respond Imagine you are developing a new drug to kill the bacteria in a different way than penicillin does. Identify a mode of antimicrobial action that would be used to combat the infection. What mode of action would you target? Would you expect humans to develop resistance to your new drug? Recommend preventative measures for resistance to your new drug. Explain your answers.
#Antimicrobial #drugs
