Painting by Bri Snavely, with artist statement below.
Unneissesary Avoidance
Bacteria can be pretty when stained and photographed or when painted, and can be easy to mentally distance ourselves from. But just because we can not see them does not mean they are not there. Since the discovery of antibiotics, there has been a general attitude towards bacterial infections as a thing of the past. Penicillin and other antibiotics are viewed as miracle drugs, but that is no longer the case. “Gonorrhea is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by infection with the Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacterium… [which] infects the mucous membranes of the reproductive tract” (Gonorrhea – CDC Detailed Fact Sheet). Unfortunately, Gonorrhea is reaching critical resistance and is one of only five bacterium classified as “urgent” by the CDC. This is because it has a high number of infections reported each year, roughly half of which are resistant to antibiotics (Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States).
Bacteria are organisms that have the ability to evolve in such a way that they are not affected by antibiotics, a concept called antibiotic resistance. Sometimes this happens by chance but it is also possible for bacteria to share genes with each other, some of which are responsible for the antibiotic resistance (MacLean and Alvaro). This puts into perspective that bacteria are not stagnant– they are not the same as they were a century ago. As antibiotics are developed, bacteria evolve alongside them. It is important to be aware of the risks that infections cause and especially of the fact that antibiotics are a tool, not a miracle.
Rather than being afraid of this it is better to instead take action. The best way to make sure you can get rid of a gonorrhea infection is to avoid contracting one at all. According to the CDC the best way to do this is by avoiding sexual contact with someone who has gonorrhea, get tested, and to use protection such as latex condoms (Gonorrhea – CDC Detailed Fact Sheet). The only way that we can move forward successfully is by not avoiding the problem at hand but to recognize that antibiotic resistance is a part of our world, and to work together to prevent infections.
References
- “Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2019.” CDC, 2019, https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/pdf/threats-report/2019-ar-threats-report-50 8.pdf
- Eckert, Alissa, “Drug Resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae,” from Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2019 (AR Threats Report).
- “Gonorrhea – CDC Detailed Fact Sheet.” CDC, 2022, https://www.cdc.gov/std/gonorrhea/stdfact-gonorrhea-detailed.htm#:~:text=What %20is%20gonorrhea%3F,urethra%20in%20women%20and%20men.
- MacLean, R. Craig, and Alvaro San Millan. “The Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance.” Science, vol. 365, no. 6458, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Sept. 2019, pp. 1082–83. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax3879.
- Phillips, David, “Neisseria Gonorrhea, TEM,” in Science Photo Library
- Tankeshwar, Acharya, from “Neisseria gonorrhoeae: Disease, Pathogenesis, Lab Diagnosis” in Microbe Online, 2022