What is resistant bacteria

It can be prevented by minimising unnecessary prescribing and overprescribing of antibiotics, the correct use of prescribed antibiotics, and good hygiene and infection control. Some bacteria are naturally resistant to some antibiotics. For example, benzyl penicillin has very little effect on most organisms found in the human digestive system gut.

Some bacteria have developed resistance to antibiotics that were once commonly used to treat them. In the past, these infections were usually controlled by penicillin. The most serious concern with antibiotic resistance is that some bacteria have become resistant to almost all of the easily available antibiotics.

These bacteria are able to cause serious disease and this is a major public health problem. Important examples are:. Standard precautions in hospitals are work practices that provide a basic level of infection control for the care of all people, regardless of their diagnosis or presumed infection status.

These precautions should be followed in all hospitals and healthcare facilities and include:. Implementing standard precautions minimises the risk of transmission of infection from person to person, even in high-risk situations. Additional precautions are used when caring for people who are known or suspected to be infected or colonised with highly infectious pathogens micro-organisms that cause disease. Additional precautions are tailored to the particular pathogen and route of transmission.

Additional precautions may include:. Antibiotic resistant bacteria can also be passed from person to person within the community. This is becoming more common. Ways to prevent transmission of organisms, including antibiotic resistant bacteria, are:. This page has been produced in consultation with and approved by:.

Anthrax is a rare but potentially fatal bacterial disease that occasionally infects humans. The Western obsession with cleanliness may be partly responsible for the increase in allergic asthma and conditions such as rhinitis. Aspergillus is a fungus that commonly grows on rotting vegetation. It can cause asthma symptoms. The simplest form of prevention for lyssavirus is to avoid close contact with bats.

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Most of the time, these bacteria are harmless, but they can cause an infection when they enter a wound. This type of bacteria is resistant to many antibiotics, including methicillin. Most methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus , or MRSA, infections contracted outside of a hospital are skin infections. In medical centers, MRSA causes life-threatening bloodstream and surgical-site infections, as well as pneumonia. MRSA is one of the most common antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Symptoms of MRSA infection often begin as small red bumps on the skin that can progress to deep, painful abscesses or boils, which are pus-filled masses under the skin. These need to be surgically opened and drained. Sometimes MRSA stays on the skin, but it can invade the body, causing potentially life-threatening infections in bones, joints, the heart, and the lungs. Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria cause many types of illnesses, including pneumonia, a lung infection.

These bacteria can also lead to ear and sinus infections , as well as meningitis, an infection of the membranes around the brain and spinal cord.

Bacteremia, a bloodstream infection, can also be caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae. This type of bacteria is spread through coughing, sneezing, and close contact with an infected person. Symptoms depend on the part of the body infected. They can include fever, cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, stiff neck, confusion and disorientation, sensitivity to light, joint and ear pain, chills, sleeplessness, and irritability.

Streptococcus pneumoniae can cause hearing loss, brain damage, and death if the infection is severe. Find more information on the development of antibiotic resistance in the latest AR Threats Report.

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