Chapter 8, Problem 1CS

CASE STUDY |To treat or not to treat

A 4-month-old infant had been running a moderate fever for 36 hours, and a nervous mother made a call to her pediatrician. Examination and testing revealed no outward signs of infection or cause of the fever. The anxious mother asked the pediatrician about antibiotics, but the pediatrician recommended watching the infant carefully for two days before making a decision. He explained that decades of rampant use of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture had caused a worldwide surge in bacteria that are now resistant to such drugs. He also said that the reproductive behavior of bacteria allows them to exchange antibiotic resistance traits with a wide range of other disease-causing bacteria, and that many strains are now resistant to multiple antibiotics. The physician's information raises several interesting questions.

Was the physician correct in saying that bacteria can share resistance?

Summary Introduction

Case summary:

An infant was suffering from fever from 36 hours. On examination, the signs of infection or cause of fever were absent. The pediatrician did not recommend any of the antibiotics until observing the infant for two days. Pediatrician explained that extensive use of antibiotics in both medicine and agriculture has developed a resistance against drugs in the bacteria. Moreover, the bacteria can also exchange the antibiotic resistant traits with other disease-causing bacteria.

Characters in the case:

A 4-month-old infant, infant’s mother, and pediatrician.

Adequate information:

Extensive use of antibiotics has developed the antibiotics resistance into the bacteria. Bacteria have the ability to transfer the antibiotic resistance and through this ability, bacteria can now spread the antibiotic resistance to other pathogenic bacteria. Also, several strains are nowadays resistant to multiple antibiotics.

To determine:

Whether the physician’s explanation that bacteria can share resistance is true or not.

Explanation of Solution

Given information:

The cause of fever in the infant was absent. Pediatrician is not ready to recommened antibiotics, as the extensive use of antibiotics makes the bacteria resistance to antibiotics.

The pediatrician explains to the mother that bacteria share the bacteria antibiotic resistance. This is true that the bacteria have the ability to acquire antibiotic resistance genes from other bacteria. The process of conjugation helps in this mechanism. Bacteria transfer the genetic material through the conjugation into another bacteria and this comes under horizontal gene transfer.

Even the genes that confer the antibiotic resistance (found on plasmids and transposons) can be transferred by conjugation. Viruses (bacteriophages) can also pass the resistance traits from one bacteria to another by acting as a vector. The virus packs the resistance traits of one bacterium into the head portion then the virus injects that resistance traits into the new bacteria. Bacteria also have the ability to acquire the free DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) from the surroundings.

Conclusion

Therefore, it can be concluded that bacteria have the ability to transfer the antibiotic resistance across the bacterial cells through conjugation. Also, the bacteriophages can serve this purpose of transferring the genes between bacteria.