Antibiotic resistance is rapidly emerging as one of the most significant global threats to society—yet its urgency is often ignored.
As students return to campus for the school year, particularly during orientation week, the issue of antibiotic resistance becomes more urgent as close living quarters ensue and increase the risk of spreading antibiotic-resistant infections.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines antibiotic resistance as the ability of bacteria to resist the effects of drugs designed to kill them, making once-treatable infections difficult or impossible to cure.
Dr. Cristopher Lohans, a Queen’s assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, is dedicated to studying how bacteria can become resistant to bacterial enzymes, called beta-lactams, a class of antibiotics including well-known medications like penicillin and carbapenems. Bacterial enzymes are components of bacteria that degrade proteins.
These antibiotics are crucial for treating bacterial infections, but their effectiveness is threatened by resistance mechanisms in bacteria.
Dr. Lohans runs a research group called the Lohans Labs which studies antibiotics and antibiotic resistance mechanisms, as well as develops new strategies to combat resistant bacterial strains. Particularly, it focuses on how beta-lactamases degrade these antibiotics.
“Universities do bring together people from across the country and from around the world, and while I’m not sure if it has been studied, this could potentially lead to the increased spread of antibiotic resistance genes,” Lohans said in an interview with The Journal.
Dr. Lohans explained there are steps university students can take to reduce the risk of contracting antibiotic resistant infections.
“In of day-to-day life, this will involve regular personal hygiene and ensuring a clean-living environment. Treating bacterial infections properly can also limit the potential spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria,” Lohans said.
“We [the lab] are developing new methods for detecting the bacteria that produces beta-lactamases. Some of the tests developed by our group are rapid and inexpensive, which will help global efforts to limit the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria, like in hospital settings, and to guide the treatment of infections caused by these bacteria,” Lohans said.
The complexities of antibiotic resistance, Lohans explained, particularly arises in the context of gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted infection (STI) which has been privy to a disturbing rise in drug-resistant cases.
“Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacterium responsible for gonorrhea, is notoriously difficult to grow in a lab, making it challenging to test if it is drug-resistant and determine which antibiotics will be effective against it,” Lohans said.
Neisseria gonorrhoeae commonly becomes resistant to antibiotics through mutations— the bacteria go through genetic changes, modifying the targets of antibiotics, or preventing the antibiotics from reaching their targets, Lohans explained
“Mutations happen all the time in bacterial populations and when one of these mutations protects a bacterium from an antibiotic, this bacterium will be able to outgrow other variants, resulting in the mutations being ed on. Bacteria replicates rapidly, hence mutations can lead to drug resistance extremely quickly,” Lohans said.
The pace at which bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics is exacerbated by the misuse of antibiotics in healthcare and agriculture.
“If an antibiotic is used to treat a viral infection [like a cold or the flu], not only will the antibiotic be ineffective, but it will exert selective pressure on any bacteria that are present, favouring the growth of bacteria that are resistant to the antibiotic. Beyond their use in humans, a large amount of antibiotics is used for agricultural purposes to promote the growth of animals for food production, and this also exposes bacteria to the selective pressure of antibiotics,” Lohans said.
Antibiotic resistance represents a major threat to common healthcare practices.
“Surgeries expose sterile tissues to the external environment, and antibiotics are needed to prevent infections. Patients who are immunosuppressed, like if they are undergoing chemotherapy to treat cancer, will also need antibiotics to protect against bacteria,” he added.
If antibiotics aren’t available to help treat or prevent infections, it jeopardizes a multitude of different medical procedures that modern day medicine has come to rely on.
According to Lohans, the pharmaceutical industry often prioritizes more profitable drugs, leaving antibiotic research underfunded.
“Most new antibiotics available today are just derivatives of older antibiotics. The resistance mechanisms that protect against these older antibiotics can be partially effective against newer antibiotics. Bacteria are constantly mutating; it doesn’t take long for these resistance mechanisms to evolve to fully protect bacteria from the new antibiotics,” Lohans said.
Lohans explained antibiotic resistance causes treatment failure for common illnesses university students might face, such as urinary tract infections (UTIs) or strep throat.
“The first line [of] treatment prescribed by the doctor might only be ineffective. In this situation, the doctor might then have to prescribe a more powerful antibiotic to control the infection. This process will unavoidably expose more bacteria to these antibiotics, helping to favour the emergence of resistance mechanisms that protect against them,” Lohans said.
In response to this growing threat, Queen’s University is at the forefront of research aimed at combating antibiotic resistance. Apart from Dr. Lohans’ lab, there are other ongoing efforts that investigate antibiotic resistance from a variety of different perspectives.
Lohans spoke on other antibiotic resistance research happening at Queen’s. Dr. Stephen Brown, a Queen’s associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Dr. Prameet Sheth, a Queen’s assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences are developing and implementing diagnostics for resistant bacteria.
Meanwhile, Dr. Avena Ross, a Queen’s associate professor in the Department of Chemistry is working to identify new antibiotics to target resistant bacteria. Dr. Sarah Jane Payne, a Queen’s assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering is establishing methods to track resistance on a community level in wastewater.
“There are many other groups here working in this area, and there is a lot of diverse and innovative research underway at Queen’s to tackle this problem,” Lohans said.
As bacteria continues to evolve, the current arsenal of antibiotics is becoming less effective, posing a dire challenge for modern healthcare. Despite the challenges, Dr. Lohans remains optimistic.
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Srephen raymond
Dr said at hdh,that 40 percent have mrsa,and have no idea.