Figure 4 - uploaded by Diane P Genereux
Content may be subject to copyright.
Infectious disease mortality in the US across the 20th century. Redrawn from Armstrong et al. (1999)
Context in source publication
Context 1
... they are not principally responsible for our contemporary freedom from the great plagues humankind faced in the fourteenth century, or from the burden of the infectious diseases that were rampant in American cities during the late nineteenth-century. Figure 4 illustrates the rate of infectious disease mortality -the number of individuals per 100,000 Americans who died of infectious diseases each year -from 1900 until 1996 [Armstrong et al 1999]. At the turn of the 20th century, nearly 800 per 100000 Americans died each year of infectious diseases. ...
Similar publications
A survey study that aims to assess, correlate and analyze the knowledge, beliefs and attitude of the public in greater Beirut in regards to antibiotic resistance.
Citations
... Unlike in the absence of antibiotics in which an antibiotic resistance mutation does not provide a selective advantage to a cell, in the presence of antibiotics, the mutant reproduces normally. In the presence of the antibiotics, wild-type drugsensitive cells would either fail to reproduce or die [116]. Typically, antibiotics designed to kill bacteria end up selecting for bacteria that do not respond to the antibiotics. ...
... Thus, the mutant cell will reproduce even though an antibiotic has been introduced. In contrast, antibiotic-sensitive cells either fail to reproduce and/or die in this case [5]. ...
The unnecessary use of antibiotics has given rise to antibiotic resistance and for this reason is a cause of growing concern in contemporary health care contexts. Antibiotic resistance means that an antibiotic is losing or has lost the ability to kill a given bacteria and/or to prevent it from reproducing. The result: an increase in the number of patients suffering from and even dying of infections. Resistant bacteria continue to increase in number, as they survive the antibiotic designed and used to kill them. The disease induced by the bacteria lasts longer, therefore, than would have been the case were the bacteria not antibiotic resistant. Thus, prolonged treatment and/or even death results together with an increase in cost associated with these outcomes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the interactions among the bacteria, immune system cells, and antibiotics in a Repast Simphony 2.1 agent-based simulation environment modeled to observe the effects of the antibiotic resistance in the infection process. According to our results, increased antibiotic resistance constitutes a serious threat to the success of established methods used in the treatment of bacterial infections.
... There are at least four reasons why cataloging the frequency of ABR is a promising way for undergraduates to do authentic research. First, the need for data is great: worldwide, more people die of infectious disease than any other single cause (51), and the rapid evolution of ABR has put human populations on the threshold of a post-antibiotic era (1,19,22,50). Second, student interest is strong due to the public health implications, and even stronger if the sampled cells come from their own bodies. ...
In a laboratory exercise for undergraduate biology majors, students plated bacteria from swabs of their facial skin under conditions that selected for coagulase-negative Staphylococcus; added disks containing the antibiotics penicillin, oxacillin, tetracycline, and erythromycin; and measured zones of inhibition. Students also recorded demographic and lifestyle variables and merged this information with similar data collected from 9,000 other students who had contributed to the database from 2003 to 2011. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) testing performed at the Harborview Medical Center Microbiology Laboratory (Seattle, WA) indicated a high degree of accuracy for student-generated data; species identification with a matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) Biotyper revealed that over 88% of the cells analyzed by students were S. epidermidis or S. capitus. The overall frequency of resistant cells was high, ranging from 13.2% of sampled bacteria resistant to oxacillin to 61.7% resistant to penicillin. Stepwise logistic regressions suggested that recent antibiotic use was strongly associated with resistance to three of the four antibiotics tested (p = 0.0003 for penicillin, p < 0.0001 for erythromycin and tetracycline), and that age, gender, use of acne medication, use of antibacterial soaps, or makeup use were associated with resistance to at least one of the four antibiotics. Furthermore, drug resistance to one antibiotic was closely linked to resistance to the other three antibiotics in every case (all p values < 0.0001), suggesting the involvement of multidrug-resistant strains. The data reported here suggest that citizen science could not only provide an important educational experience for undergraduates, but potentially play a role in efforts to expand antibiotic resistance (ABR) surveillance.
... A sexual ecosystem such as the MSM one that includes a significant component in the GIT may provide increased opportunities for STIs to acquire antibiotic resistance mutations. Each gram of fecal matter contains 10 1010 11 bacterial cells [43]. Given mutation rates of approximately 2 Â 10 À3 per genome per replication, and genome sizes around 5 Â 10 6 base pairs, 1 g of fecal matter is likely to include at least one newly occurred instance of every single point mutation possible in bacterial genomes [43]. ...
... Each gram of fecal matter contains 10 1010 11 bacterial cells [43]. Given mutation rates of approximately 2 Â 10 À3 per genome per replication, and genome sizes around 5 Â 10 6 base pairs, 1 g of fecal matter is likely to include at least one newly occurred instance of every single point mutation possible in bacterial genomes [43]. Therefore, the lower GIT is able to provide a considerable scope of point-mutations and homologous recombination. ...
Surveillance data from a number of countries have indicated that antibiotic resistance in N. gonorrhoea is strongly associated with men who have sex with men (MSM). This manuscript advances the hypothesis that certain features of the MSM sexual ecosystem may be responsible for this association. It is argued that in comparison with heterosexuals, high-risk MSM (hrMSM) have a higher prevalence of oro-penile, oro-rectal and anal sex which facilitates an enhanced mixing of the pharyngeal, rectal and penile microbiomes. In addition, hrMSM have an increased number of sexual partners per unit time and an increased prevalence of sexual relationships overlapping in time. The increased flux of microbiomes between different body habitats between sexual partners, in combination with the increased connectivity of the sexual network, serve to create a novel high-risk MSM sexual ecosystem with important consequences for the genesis and spread of antibiotic resistance.
... Resistance to drugs means that the efficacy of antibiotic treatments against bacterial infections is decreasing and new treatments have to be developed in order to fight the continually emerging resistant strains that make common diseases more difficult and expensive to treat [42]. In effect, from the 1960s until today, bacteria have been developing multiple resistances to a large number of antibiotic classes, including macrolides, methicillin, vancomycyn, and more recently, linezolid [43]. The evolution of drug resistance has many causes, but three main mechanisms are responsible for the augmentation of resistance: (1) the occurrence of mutations on single nucleotides; (2) homologous (or intraspecies) recombination; and (3) heterologous (or interspecies) recombination [44]. ...
In this article, I argue that distinguishing 'evolutionary' from 'Darwinian' medicine will help us assess the variety of roles that evolutionary explanations can play in a number of medical contexts. Because the boundaries of evolutionary and Darwinian medicine overlap to some extent, however, they are best described as distinct 'research traditions' rather than as competing paradigms. But while evolutionary medicine does not stand out as a new scientific field of its own, Darwinian medicine is united by a number of distinctive theoretical and methodological claims. For example, evolutionary medicine and Darwinian medicine can be distinguished with respect to the styles of evolutionary explanations they employ. While the former primarily involves 'forward looking' explanations, the latter depends mostly on 'backward looking' explanations. A forward looking explanation tries to predict the effects of ongoing evolutionary processes on human health and disease in contemporary environments (e.g., hospitals). In contrast, a backward looking explanation typically applies evolutionary principles from the vantage point of humans' distant biological past in order to assess present states of health and disease. Both approaches, however, are concerned with the prevention and control of human diseases. In conclusion, I raise some concerns about the claim that 'nothing in medicine makes sense except in the light of evolution'.
Antibiotic resistance is typically used to justify education about evolution, as evolutionary reasoning improves our understanding of causes of resistance and possible countermeasures. It has also been promoted as a useful context for teaching natural selection, because its potency as a selection factor, in combination with the very short generation times of bacteria, allows observation of rapid selection. It is also amenable to animations, which have potential for promoting conceptual inferences. Thus, we have explored the potential benefits of introducing antibiotic resistance as a first example of natural selection, in animations, to novice pupils (aged 13–14 years). We created a series of animations that pupils interacted with in groups of 3–5 (total n = 32). Data were collected at individual (pre-/post- test) and group (collaborative group questions) levels. In addition, the exercise was video-recorded and the full transcripts were analysed inductively. The results show that most of the pupils successfully applied basic evolutionary reasoning to predict antibiotic resistance development in tasks during and after the exercise, suggesting that this may be an effective approach. Pedagogical contributions include the identification of certain characteristics of the bacterial context for evolution teaching, including common misunderstandings, and factors to consider when designing animations.
Monographs commemorating the work of Charles Darwin (1809–1882) typically cover a wide range of topics on which the theory of evolution has thrown some light. The infl uence of evolutionary thought on medicine was, until recently, often left in the dark, however. Yet evolutionary biology has crossed path with medicine more than once during the last 150 years, and the changing nature of these interactions has only begun to be examined historically and philosophically. Since more than 20 years, researchers are increasingly addressing the nature and causes of health and disease from an evolutionary standpoint. In this chapter after surveying the reception of Darwin’s work by medical doctors and the relation between evolutionary thinking and eugenics, I argue that distinguishing ‘evolutionary’ from ‘Darwinian’ medicine will help us assess the variety of roles that evolutionary explanations can play in a number of medical contexts. Because the boundaries of ‘evolutionary’ and ‘Darwinian’ medicine overlap to some extent, they are best described as distinct ‘research traditions’ rather than as competing paradigms. But while evolutionary medicine does not stand out as a new scientifi c fi eld of its own, Darwinian medicine is united by a number of distinctive theoretical and methodological claims. For example, evolutionary medicine and Darwinian medicine can be distinguished with respect to the styles of evolutionary explanations they employ. While the former primarily involves ‘forward looking’ explanations, the latter depends mostly on ‘backward looking’ explanations. A forward looking explanation tries to predict the effects of ongoing evolutionary processes on human health and disease in contemporary environments (e.g., hospitals). In contrast, a backward looking explanation typically applies evolutionary principles from the vantage point of humans’ distant biological past (i.e. the Pleistocene) in order to assess present statesof health and disease. Both approaches, however, are ultimately concerned with the prevention and control of human diseases. In conclusion, I raise some concerns about the claim that ‘nothing in medicine makes sense except in the light of evolution’.
The interface between evolutionary biology and the biomedical sciences promises to advance understanding of the origins of genetic and infectious diseases in humans, potentially leading to improved medical diagnostics, therapies, and public health practices. The biomedical sciences also provide unparalleled examples for evolutionary biologists to explore. However, gaps persist between evolution and medicine, for historical reasons and because they are often perceived as having disparate goals. Evolutionary biologists have a role in building a bridge between the disciplines by presenting evolutionary biology in the context of human health and medical practice to undergraduates, including premedical and preprofessional students. We suggest that students will find medical examples of evolution engaging. By making the connections between evolution and medicine clear at the undergraduate level, the stage is set for future health providers and biomedical scientists to work productively in this synthetic area. Here, we frame key evolutionary concepts in terms of human health, so that biomedical examples may be more easily incorporated into evolution courses or more specialized courses on evolutionary medicine. Our goal is to aid in building the scientific foundation in evolutionary biology for all students, and to encourage evolutionary biologists to join in the integration of evolution and medicine.
