Page 452 - AWSAR 2.0

428 || AWSAR Awarded Popular Science Stories - 2019
Unlocking the Resistance Mechanism Puzzle for Better Treatment of Infections
Mr. Amol Kulkarni*
Email: kool.amol@gmail.com
During school life, everyone has likings for one subject or another. I was not an exception to this. The science of life
always fascinated me. As I studied further, this fascination further narrowed down to microorganisms. Out of this interest, I pursued my MSc in Microbiology. I was thinking to pursue PhD in the same subject. However, like any other subject, completing masters opens many doors for the research. This is equally the reason of confusion as well. I was also going through this muddling when I accidentally tucked to taking a decision on my doctoral study topic.
The other day I received a call from one of my school friends asking for my help in hospitalizing his grandma as she was suffering from urinary tract infection. It was a bit urgent
call as her clinical condition was very serious. I and my friend made it fast as soon as possible. Doctors immediately started multiple antibiotics treatment. Doctor also isolated infecting pathogen from her urine sample and performed antibiotic susceptibility test as well. All these efforts made her condition somewhat better, but she could not improve it further and finally she passed away. A team of doctors struggled a lot but all efforts were useless. It was shocking for all of us but true as well. Being a microbiologist, I was unable to understand what had happened. She had shown improvement for sure, and we kept our fingers crossed. I met the doctor who treated grandma and asked what might have happened. Her answer was horrific for me. She said, ‘We as a doctor many times find
* Mr. Amol Kulkarni, PhD Scholar from Dayanand College of Science, Maharashtra, is pursuing his research on “Studies on Development of Resistance to Quinolones in Gram Negative Bacterial Pathogens”. His popular science story entitled “Unlocking the Resistance Mechanism Puzzle for Better Treatment of Infections” has been selected for AWSAR Award.