If someone ask you, what is the biggest global threat that is lurking humanity currently ?

Are you going to say world war? Global warming? Or maybe asteroid collision? Those may be correct, but there is one thing we don't pay attention as much as we are supposed to : The Superbug. So, what is it actually?

When we get sick and go to a doctor, it is common that they will give us anti-biotic prescription. Sometimes, due to a particular occasion like working condition that requires us to stay fit and healthy, we demand the doctor to give us a powerfull pill or shot. Unwittingly, taking strong prescription becomes a bad habit that gains the resistance of microorganism , such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites against medications. When the microorganisms become resistant to most antimicrobials, they are often referred to as “superbugs”. This is a major concern because a resistant infection may kill, can spread to others, and imposes huge costs to individuals and society. Consequently, as we are not sufficiently aware today, we are heading towards a post-antibiotic era where people could die from common infections and minor injuries.

Our behaviour are largerly responsible for this situation. The absence of the use of antimicrobials appropriately is by far the biggest cause that renders medication ineffective. Over-prescription, underuse, and misuse of drugs means the threat will happen much faster than expected.

When doctors want to be 'safe', they will tend to dispense drugs too liberally. It also occurs in response to patients demand like I mentioned previously. Overprescription also occurs when doctors and pharmacist want to make more money.

Underuse is also the strong driver of drug resistance, especially when economic hardship encourages patients to stop medical treatment as soon as they feel better. It allows the tough, and the most resistance microbes to survive and gain their immunity.

When the drugs are given for the wrong disease, especially by due to lack of diagnostic test, misuse of drugs likely occurs. In many countries, weak supervision of drugs circulating in the market,unlicensed prescriber, consumption of prophylaxy and other medical product for growth and anti aging are the reason why misuse of drugs contributes significantly to antimicrobial resistance.

Now we can see, a normal habit that we do to day could be a disaster in the future. It is true that antimicrobials has saved millions of life so far. But what we don't realize now is that we can't always rely our healthy and our daily consupmtion with these drugs. Antimicrobial resistance has already outpaces the development of more effective drugs. We don't realize that we are in the process of creating massive micro-sized monsters in which we are believing to keep ourselves stay healthy.

So, can you suggest what can we do to help stopping this superbugs?