JAMII MEDICAL AWARENESS

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Antimicrobial Resistance

What is antimicrobial resistance (AMR)? Antimicrobial drugs are medicines that are active against a range of infections, such as those caused by bacteria (antibiotics), viruses (antivirals), fungi (antifungals) and parasites (including antimalarials). AMR arises when the micro-organisms which cause infection (e.g. bacteria) survive exposure to a medicine that would normally kill them or stop their growth. This allows those strains that are capable of surviving exposure to a particular drug to grow and spread, due to a lack of competition from other strains. This has led to the emergence of ‘superbugs’ such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis, bacteria which are difcult or impossible to treat with existing medicines. Resistance to antimicrobials is a natural process that has been observed since the frst antibiotics were discovered and, indeed, the genes that confer drug resistance upon some strains of ba