The Long and Short of it…
The Short: AMR occurs when bacteria (or viruses, parasites, and fungi) develop a defence that protects them against the effects of drugs that used to work against them.
The Long: AMR is one of the top 10 global public health threats, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).1
Antibiotic resistance is a form of AMR relating to bacteria, rather than resistant viruses (antiviral) or fungi (anti-fungal) or parasites (anti-parasitic).
AMR happens when a drug that usually treats an infection no longer works against the bug or microbe that causes that infection, meaning the infection persists and is harder to treat. Patient stories show how the effects of resistant infection can reach beyond a the physical disease to other parts of their lives, e.g. mental, social, financial, work.
If bacteria are resistant to multiple antibiotics, they are known as multi-drug resistant (MDR) or ‘superbugs’.
Bacteria become resistant to antibiotics as a self-defence and survival mechanism against the destructive effects of the antibiotic. Bacteria that adapt to survive the drug’s effects (develop resistance) have a survival advantage.
Inappropriate use of antibiotics drives bacteria (and other microbes) to become resistant meaning people prone to getting more infections (e.g. people with weakened immune systems undergoing treatment for cancer, people with underlying health conditions) become even more vulnerable to getting a resistant one that is hard to treat (see Fight to Breathe and False Peak).
But even ‘healthy’ people can get resistant infections too, e.g. from a cut, bite, injury or a hospital acquired infection while having a routine procedure.
References:
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antimicrobial-resistance
