BIOLOGICAL RESISTANCE WHAT NEW ANTIBIOTICS AWAIT OVER THE HORIZON?

Penicillin has opened up the door for other types of antibiotics.  It was one of the first antibiotics that could be synthesized and widely distributed. -Its initial effectiveness was a dream come true for doctors.  It could be used on nearly everyone and cured a wide range of bacterial diseases.  Common problems like tonsillitis to ear infections could be delt with efficiency and speed. -Diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhea, meningitis and yaws, previously deadly diseases, became easily curable with a simple treatment of penicllin. -BUT... To all good things there must be an end. -With the transfer of rings of DNA called PLASMDS from bacteria to bacteria RESISTANT strains began to spread.  These bacteria had found a way to protect their peptidoglycan cell walls from the antibiotic and penicillin began to become useless against them. -Because of this there are now penicillin resistant strains of bacteria, particularily staphylococcus (the bacteria that cause pneumonia) and the disease gonorreah.  Penicllin was formerly effective against these diseases. THIS IS A DANGEROUS CONCEPT.  As more and more diseases become resistant to antibiotics it becomes harder and harder to produce new effective antibiotics to cure such diseases.  Suddenly diseases that have not been a factor for 100 years (eg. smallpox) may re-emerge as a new resistant strain.