The Revolution is Microscopic
And it’s not being televised
You will not be able to stay home, brother
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag
And skip out for beer during commercials, because
The revolution will not be televised
- Gil Scott-Heron
No, the revolution will not be televised. For several reasons.
First, not so many people have a TV set. It would be pointless to have a revolution that will only touch a small fraction of the people.
Plus, the ad will need to be prime-time for it to cover enough ground.
No, the revolution will not be televised.
The revolution has a better chance of having a massive impact being aired on the radio. But even then, the revolution will not be radio-lised.
I talk of a different revolution. One happening right under our noses.
The revolution is microscopic.
The revolution is here.
The revolution will not be televised
When Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, it was by accident.
Two things.
One, he was observant. It is the peculiar aspects of everyday life or the commonly dismissed routines or habits that have deep insight.
He discovered this active component from mould — Penicillium rubens.
Mould can be good after all. Who knew?
Two, his discovery was from an organism appreciable in detail only through a microscope.
Flemming’s discovery has been touted as ‘the single greatest victory ever achieved over disease’. He got a Nobel for his works.
But there’s a story many people miss.
This discovery happened in the realm of the microscopic.
It was a microbe that produced the compound that would kill many pathological bacteria known to man.
It was revolutionary.
This revolution was not televised.
This revolution was not just live.
This revolution was microscopic.
The revolution is microscopic
Many thought he was mad.
Not Fleming, but a lens maker.
The first person to discover microbes was a lens maker. He was so good at his work, he decided to see further than anyone before him ever did.
Not further into space, but further into the smaller realm. The microscopic realm.
And he started seeing moving squiggles.
Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek loved what he saw. He would take his lens everywhere with him. Soil, water, and even pieces of the human body such as hair.
He was the first microbiologist. And he did it for fun. It’s the other part of the story often unspoken.
Arguably his greatest discovery was made when he was having fun. But you know what?
People thought he was bonkers!
A whole new world? Made of small moving vermicules? Squiggly body shapes moving in water?
Surely, somebody has been spending a lot of time with his lenses. Too much time. It’s starting to take a toll on his brain.
After several correspondences with scientists, they started to pay keen attention to his discoveries. It was a revolution.
The first microscopic revolution happened long before that of Alexander Fleming. The Dutch microbiologist, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek demonstrated that the revolution is microscopic.
This is only the first half — of the beginning — of the story.
The other was brought by Fleming.
There is always warfare in the microscopic world.
Bacteria face constant threats from all over.
From viruses, there are phages. Phages are destroyers of bacteria. They have been at war for millions of years.
Even in our guts, we have viruses armed and ready, lodged at our mucous linings, waiting to pounce on bacteria intending to break into our circulatory systems.
Viruses are not always harmful. Some can be beneficial, like these phages.
Bacteria can also not always be harmful. One vital one helps us get nourished properly when we get into this world. Milk is fodder for this bacteria.
As neonates, we reap from this bond.
But between the two worlds, viruses and bacteria, there is a constant war.
And we have always been in this war, until our first nuclear component — penicillin.
Penicillin would nuke most of the bacterial infections affecting humans in the mid-1900s. Fleming had to get rewarded for it. He saved lives.
Human lives.
But ended bacterial lives.
They have never forgotten.
So they planned a revolution.
It would not be televised.
It would be live.
In fact, it’s here.
It is microscopic.
The revolution is here
I talk about antimicrobial resistance.
Microbes are developing a resistance to our best weapons against them.
In the span of the discovery of penicillin, several other drugs have been developed. Often, by adjusting the primary product.
From penicillin came amoxicillin, ampicillin, and any other ‘cillin you can think of.
Then there were ‘penems. Carbapenem, ertapenem, meropenem, and other ‘penem you can find on the Internet.
The generation of cephalosporins was another golden discovery.
However, after the discovery of new antibiotics in the last couple of years, very few antibiotics have been formulated.
In the process, bacteria have been churning new solutions to these products every second. It happens through microevolution.
What is microevolution?
I’m glad you asked.
It is evolution happening in a short span of time, visible from one generation to another. The classical example is that of the white peppered moth.
During the Industrial Revolution, most of the cities produced a lot of soot. Lichen-covered tree trunks would change colour as a result, from its peppered mosaic to a black, sooty log-like outlook.
With such a background, the white peppered moth became conspicuous. They’d get preyed on easily. On the other hand, the black moth escaped predation because of the camouflage the sooty trunks offered.
It happened over a short time. It changed the population distribution of moths. This is microevolution.
Similarly, bacteria develop forms of resistance using their best arsenal — genes.
Humans have guns. Bacteria have genes
But unlike humans, bacteria share their weaponry.
They make sure everyone is armed. It happens through horizontal gene transfer.
Consider that the commonest bacteria causing urinary tract infection can duplicate in 20 minutes. In an hour, we’d have three generations. In a day, 72.
In a week, over 500 generations.
In all these generations, bacteria freely share their weapons — genes.
Microevolution happens at a fast rate in the microbial world.
Once they mount a resistance, the potential for spreading is fast.
I recently heard of a case of a child who became resistant to our last line of defense, colistin. It was a sad case because the bacteria are easily defensible by several commonly prescribed medications.
Usually, these mounted revolutions happen in health institutions, the hub of gene flows, mutations, and selective pressures of antibiotics.
You might be one of the people fueling this revolution. Here’s how you know if you’re a culprit:
1. Do you rush to get an antibiotic from your nearest pharmacy when you get a simple cold?
2. Do you take antibiotics when you have a running stomach?
3. Do you always insist on getting tested for H. pylori?
4. Do you self-medicate with antibiotics if you have a headache?
5. Do you give your child an antibiotic when they spike fevers?
If your answer to any of the above questions is yes, then you have been a mover of the greatest revolution we are yet to witness.
But there’s something you can do about it.
Here’s what you can do about it
Communication is effective if it moves you to action.
My article will be pointless if it does not compel you to change your ways. And you can change them.
1. Do not accept any bacterial prescription from a vending chemist or pharmacy until it is confirmed by lab tests.
The only place that runs these tests are hospitals. It helps to have a print-out of these tests for yourself in case you may want an independent evaluator.
2. Do not administer antibiotics to your children because they have a fever. Counter to popular opinion, fevers help the body. However, they are also signals of possible infection. Take the child to a nearby hospital to have them evaluated.
3. There’s a common antibiotic many people self-prescribe on. I will not mention it, but you know it. It became easily accessible because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Do not start yourself on this medication until you are tested in a hospital facility.
It is not just you who protects yourself by sticking to this mode of action, but your future self.
4. Preach the word to anyone who you know. It worked for the Maji Maji Rebellion. Although it was not successful, the spread by word of mouth reached many people.
We have the internet. We can also mount a rebellion against the pathological bacteria.
These are four easy steps to stifle the microscopic revolution.
As a microbes advocate, I would recommend having a balanced, symbiotic relationship with them. Not an imbalanced, dysbiotic one.
Flagrant administration of antibiotics tips the balance against us.
In short, rather than wait for the invention of breaks, slow down the car before it’s too late.
Find the lightest newsletter on the Internet packed with extremely dense value.
