Will antibiotics resistance impact human survival?

We already know that mutations and bacterial resistance is spreading worldwide and it will continue doing so. However, if we are smart and we know how to use antibiotics we can slow down this process, but how serious is the problem now?

Let's take a look at Staphylococcus aureus (Image 1) - bacteria that causes most skin infections in humans (S.aureus infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus -MRSA). Many strains of S.aureus are already resistant to all antibiotics except vancomycin. S.aureus is a major cause of hospital-acquired infections and is only one step away to be an unstoppable killer. Due to spreading of the bacterial resistance, the death rates for some diseases such as tuberculosis started to rise again(1).

It is estimated that about 19,000 people die every year from MRSA in the United states of America. Not all S.aureus infections are deadly, most MRSA deaths occur in a hospital in people with a weak immune system; not strong enough to fight infection. In 2002 first-cases of vancomycin resistant MRSA were reported. Vancomycin is the last resort treatment for the infection and in these cases when MRSA is already resistant it won't work(2).

There's more bacteria that are resistant to various numbers of antibiotics this was just one example. Antibiotic resistance is a major public health problem nowadays. Public health agencies produce posters about good hygiene practices to prevent spreading the resistant bacteria from one person to another. Scientist have to develop new treatments and therapies because in the future a simple bacterial infection can be deadly for anyone(2).










References:
(1)http://www.chiro.org/LINKS/FULL/Challenge_of_Antibiotic_Resistance.shtml (18/4/14)
(2)http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/antibiotic-resistance-mutation-rates-and-mrsa-28360 (18/4/14)
Image: http://labs.mcdb.lsa.umich.edu/labs/boles/research.php (18/4/14)