What is a Superbug?

February 18, 2024

3 min read

The term “superbug” is all the more frightening after the COVID-19 pandemic — we’re fully aware of the damage a single pathogen can wreak on our world.

If you follow the news, you’ll probably see this term thrown around now and again. Superbugs are often associated with outbreaks at medical or animal agriculture facilities. But what are superbugs exactly and what do we know about them?

What is a Superbug?

A superbug is a strain of virus, bacteria, fungi, or parasites that have become resistant to antibiotics or other medications that are used to treat the infections they cause.

For example, penicillin has been used for many years to treat a variety of bacterial infections including staphylococcus infections (also called staph infections). However, a strain of staph known as Staphylococcus aureus has emerged that is highly resistant to antibiotics like penicillin.

In other words, a superbug is much harder to treat and eliminate from the body than a traditional infection due to its resistance to medicines.

How Do Superbugs Work?

Superbugs can come about in two ways, both of which rely on exposure to antibiotics:

1.
Pathogens' repeated exposure to antibiotics. When antibiotics are routinely used to treat a specific kind of infection, it eliminates the pathogens that are vulnerable to these antibiotics and only the resistant ones remain. Repeated exposure allows the strongest, most resistant pathogens to survive and reproduce, adapting genetically over time to antibiotics.
2.
People on antibiotics who consume meat, produce, or water with pathogens contribute to the overexposure of antibiotics. This can make them less effective against microbial agents.

The COVID-19 pandemic also made microbial resistance even worse. Even though COVID-19 is a virus that is not vulnerable to antibiotics, there was an increased use of antibiotics during this time, making antibiotic-resistant bacteria even more prevalent.

You can think of superbugs this way: the more we treat pathogens with medications, the stronger these pathogens get and the less our medications work against them. So when lots of people are using antibiotics, these pathogens are getting a lot of training in, building more resistance to the antibiotics.

Why You Should Care

When you get a bacterial infection, your doctor may prescribe you an antibiotic to help you get better. Doctors will usually prescribe a milder and older antibiotic first and only prescribe a newer, more aggressive antibiotic if the milder options don’t work. This is to prevent bacteria from developing a resistance to the newer, more aggressive antibiotic; therefore, it may be used as a medication of last resort.

However, as superbugs become resistant to the mild antibiotics and the more aggressive and newer ones, these infections can become impossible to treat, meaning there may be little or nothing a doctor can do.

The best way to help in the fight against superbugs is to avoid unknowingly aiding these superbugs. Do the following to stop the spread of superbugs:

Don’t overuse antibiotics. Only use antibiotics when they’re prescribed by your doctor. Follow the instructions closely and never save some for later or use them when you have a viral infection
Take the entire course. Sometimes you may think it’s OK to stop taking antibiotics once you feel better, but you should always take the entire course and follow your doctor’s instructions.
Get vaccinated. Staying up-to-date with vaccines is one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of infections. Furthermore, by encouraging friends and family members to get vaccinated you can increase our shared immunity as a society.
Don’t share antibiotics. Remember, an antibiotic was prescribed to you, and you only.
Practice good hygiene. Wash your hands with soap and water regularly, keep surfaces disinfected, and pay attention to current public health guidelines.