Title: Why won’t this bacterial infection go away? - Daily Monitor
Headings: Why won’t this bacterial infection go away?
Why won’t this bacterial infection go away?
Summary

Content: When antibiotics attack them, they devise means of survival. “The more you use an antibiotic, the more you expose a bacteria to an antibiotic, the greater the likelihood that resistance to that antibiotic is going to develop,” Dr Srinivasan, the associate director at CDC, told PBS TV, last month. “There are many resistant mechanisms,” says Buga. “ Bacteria are made in such a way that they have a system called conjugation, where two bacteria come together and exchange the DNA material between themselves. Or, with this use of erratic use of antibiotics, if one of these bacteria which came into conjugation with another, if it acquired the resistant genes, then it transfers these to the other bacteria, which then spreads and may infect another body.” “Then, some of the bacteria produce enzymes, which neutralise certain antibiotics. For example, there are organisms, which produce substances/enzymes that neutralise penicillin. So, however much you are given penicillin, it will not help,” he added. Of the most abused antibiotics in Uganda, Buga mentions Amoxicillin, used indiscriminately in the case of coughs, flus, wounds and other infections. Ciprofloxacin and Co-trimaxazole (Septrin) are other commonly abused antibiotics, Mr Opio adds.