图片说明:科里·德维勒, 分子生物学教授, 在博彩平台推荐的细胞和发育生物学, is working to discover new compounds to address the growing threat of superbugs.

After years of progress in the battle against antimicrobial-resistance, so-called “superbugs” have made a concerning comeback in the age of COVID, with resistant hospital-onset infections 和 deaths soaring at least 15% in the first year of the p和emic alone, 根据一项新的研究 疾病控制中心的报告.

每年，美国大约有300万人死于糖尿病.S. 都感染了细菌, 比如细菌和真菌, that have developed resistance to the drugs designed to kill them. 大约50,000人死于这些威胁, often acquired in the very healthcare facilities designed to treat them. By 2050, 一些科学家预测, there could be more deaths from antibiotic resistance than from cancer.

科里Detweiler, 分子生物学教授, 细胞, 和发育生物学, 她的职业生涯都在努力 开发解决方案 to what some call “the shadow p和emic” of antimicrobial-resistance. 今天的科罗拉多大学 spoke with her about why so many antimicrobial drugs won’t work anymore, how COVID made things worse 和 what can be done to make things better.

How long have antibiotics been around, 和 how big of an impact did they have?

现代抗生素是1928年发现的, 与青霉素, but it wasn’t until World War II that they started to be made in large amounts in the U.S. 治疗士兵. That demonstrated their true potential—many people who would have died from infections from battle wounds survived. 从那以后，它们产生了巨大的影响. They have helped people to survive basic things like childbirth or falling on the playground or having minor surgery. 在抗生素出现之前, 人们过去经常死于这些东西, 当他们停止工作时, 这类活动将变得更加危险. 在你做髋关节置换手术之前，你应该再仔细想想. When your friend goes into childbirth, you might be concerned you won’t see her alive again. We risk going back to a period 100 years ago when even a minor infection could mean death. 它将彻底改变博彩平台推荐的生活. 

什么是超级细菌，它们有多常见?

A superbug is a bacterium or fungi that is resistant to clinical antimicrobials. 它们越来越普遍. 现在, 例如, the percentage of clinical isolates of Enterobacteriales (which includes things like Salmonella 和 E. 已知耐药的大肠杆菌约占35%. So, if you go into a hospital 和 get an infection like this, you have about a one in three chance of being either untreatable or not very treatable.

Prior to the p和emic, how were we doing in addressing this issue?

已经取得了很大的进展, 尤其是医院获得性感染, based on a better underst和ing of the problem 和 better guidelines about when to use antibiotics. 2012年至2017年, 例如, deaths from antimicrobial resistance fell by 18% overall 和 nearly 30% in hospitals. 这一切都在COVID期间崩溃了. 

为什么? COVID是如何产生上升的?

博彩平台推荐不知道如何治疗COVID, 和, 这是可以理解的, 医疗系统中有相当多的混乱. People were using antibiotics more, often inappropriately. 约80%的患者接受了抗生素治疗. People were given them prophylactically, prior to knowing they had a lung bacterial infection. That's not to say that none of (the patients) needed them. 一些做. But the more you use antibiotics, the more you select for resistance. 这就是你最终得到超级细菌的方式. 

What harm is it for me to take an antibiotic that I may not need, "just in case"?

当你服用不需要的抗生素时, you are essentially putting pressure on other microbes in your body to grow stronger. That could make you sick later or make someone in your household sick. You’re also selecting for resistant bacteria that you evacuate out into the water system 和 can potentially spread antibiotic resistance. 还有一个更自私的因素, which is that antibiotics kill off your microbiota – the beneficial bacteria we all have within our nasal passages 和 our GI tract to keep us healthy. 这会让你更容易生病. 

社会能做些什么来解决这个问题? 

第一个, we need to go back to this idea of stewardship in hospitals — to only give out antibiotics when there is a clear need. 博彩平台推荐做的是对的. And then something terrible came along 和 messed it up, 和 it demonstrated that what we were doing was working well. 这是一件好事. Second, we need to discover 和 develop novel classes of antibiotics. The last time a new class of antibiotics hit the market was in 1984. The fundamental problem is that they’re not profitable to develop, compared to say a cancer drug. You can go to the drugstore 和 get a course of amoxicillin for $8. We need programs that reward industry 和 academic labs like ours for doing the early research.

你的实验室是做什么的?

We're using basic biology to try to figure out new ways to kill bacteria during an infection 和 identify compounds that work differently than existing drugs. 

个人能做什么?

Don’t pressure your doctor for an antibiotic unless there's evidence that you need one, 和 if your doctor does want to prescribe them ask why you need them. 他们应该能够解释原因. 如果你确实需要，那就把整个课程都修一遍.

为简洁明了，本采访经过编辑.