Antibiotic Resistance

Cards (6)

When bacteria evolve to become able to survive exposure to antibiotics, we say that they have developed:
Antibiotic resistance
Describe in detail how antibiotic resistance arises?
A population of a bacteria infect somebody
That person takes antibiotics to kill the bacteria
Some bacteria have (or get) a random mutation that makes them less susceptible to the antibiotic than others (or completely resistant to it)
The antibiotics kill all the bacteria except those that are resistant
The resistance strains of bacteria now have more resources to grow and multiply
More mutations may arise, leading to greater resistance
To reduce the rise and spread of antibiotic resistance, should we increase or decrease the use of antibiotics?
decrease use
Are antibiotics effective at treating viral diseases?
no they treat bacteria
Give 3 reasons antibiotic resistance is becoming more common?
Doctors often prescribe antibiotics in cases where they aren't necessary. For example, mild or viral infections
Many people don't take the full course of antibiotics, so not all the bacteria are killed
Huge amounts of antibiotics are given to farm animals in order to make them grow faster
Why is the spread of antibiotic resistance a problem?
If more bacteria are resistant to antibiotics, we won't be able to treat those infections
This means more people will die of bacterial infections