MPU 2201 Online Notes - 3 Summary Notes

MPU2201 BASIC ACADEMIC WRITING
MMLS ONLINE NOTES
Trimester 3, 2019/2020

Summary Writing

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Source: Madhubala Bava Harji et.al. (2013). APEX. Kuala Lumpur: McGraw-Hill Education (M) Sdn Bhd
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Summary Writing Practice

Read the following text carefully. Based from the information from the text, summarise in
about 100 words, the factors that contribute to the problem of drug resistant bacteria.

Today, as we rapidly approach a new millennium, physicians and patients alike are
faced with a relatively new menacing danger - drug resistant bacteria. Disease-causing
organisms that were once easily treated with antibiotics are, in many cases, now extremely
resistant to today’s drugs. The problem has health experts quite concerned. Antibiotic
resistance is a serious and growing phenomenon in contemporary medicine and has emerged
as one of the eminent public health concerns of the 21st century, particularly as it pertains to
pathogenic organisms.

The major factor in the increase in drug-resistant bacteria is that sometimes people do
not take the full course of the antibiotic that the doctor prescribed. Often, if a patient starts to
feel better while taking an antibiotic, he or she will decide to not finish the rest of the
prescription. In many cases, a patient stops taking the drug because it may be too expensive.
For example, when someone has tuberculosis, he needs to take two or three courses of
Isoniazid which normally cost USD 150 per course for about six months. The bacteria that
remain after partial treatment are the ones that are most resistant to that drug or combination
of drugs. They attack with a vengeance once the treatment stops, becoming even more
resistant and tougher to treat than when the antibiotic was first started.

Another factor in the increased amount of drug resistance is the abuse of antibiotics.
Prescription antibiotics are often abused by incompetent doctors prescribing cheap, less
effective antibiotics. In addition, doctors also prescribe them at the insistence of a patient or a
parent – for viral infections like cold or the flu. Experts stress that antibiotics have no effects
on viruses; they only work on bacteria. This misuse of the same antibiotic contributes to
resistance. As bacteria begin recognising the same agent, they toughen their line of defense,
ultimately becoming more elusive and resistant to the drug. Bacteria have a variety of
mechanisms to get around the high-powered antibiotics. Some organisms can crank out
substances that will break down the drug, or they can fool the drug modifying the substance
on them that is the target for the drug. They can send out multiplications so the antibiotic will
not know which one is the real target. Then, the antibiotic binds to the “wrong” one and the
organism is safe.

Ironically, hospitals contribute to the problem of drug resistance because they don’t
follow good infection control strategies. The procedures and clinical practice during the
period of drug treatment are frequently flawed at the hospital - usually no steps are taken to
isolate the patient to prevent re-infection or infection by a new pathogen, negating the goal of
complete destruction by the end of the course. Poor hand hygiene by hospital staff has been
associated with the spread of resistant organisms. It was shown back in the 1800s that hand
washing prevents the transmission of hospital acquired infections. Unfortunately, diligent
hand washing is not adhered to at most health care facilities. Dr Henderson, who is Deputy
Director for clinical care at the NIH Clinical Centre of Maryland pointed out that the hospital
is not a very safe place. Five per cent of the patients who come to the hospital get a hospital
acquired infection.

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There is no easy solution to the problem of drug – resistant bacteria. Both health
consumers and practitioners share the responsibility for limiting the factors that are
contributing to what some feel is a near-crisis situation. We may, in the near future, have to
move past today’s commonly prescribed antibiotics and perhaps find ways to help the
immune system to overcome bacterial infections that will help us get into the next century of
medicine and take us away from reliance on antibiotics.

(623 words)

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