antibiotic resistance

• Antibiotics


  A group of drugs that can kill bacteria
• Penicillin


  The first antibiotic to be discovered, almost 100 years ago
• Penicillin was able to kill loads of different types of bacteria


  But some types of bacteria have now become resistant to it
• How antibiotic resistance happens

  1. Bacteria develop random mutations in their DNA

  2. Mutations can change their characteristics

  3. Occasionally these changes result in the bacteria being less affected by the antibiotic

  4. The resistant bacteria survive

  5. The resistant bacteria replicate quickly and form a new colony
• Antibiotic resistant strain


  A new type of bacteria that has the gene for antibiotic resistance
• Antibiotics don't work on the resistant bacteria


  The person is still infected and can pass on the resistant bacteria
• How antibiotic resistance can spread

  1. The resistant bacteria are passed on to other people

  2. The same antibiotic doesn't work on the new person

  3. A different antibiotic is tried

  4. Some of the bacteria develop resistance to the new antibiotic
• Superbugs


  Bacteria that are resistant to lots of different types of antibiotics
• It's super uncommon for a bacteria to develop full resistance, often it's only partial resistance</b>
• Completing the full course of antibiotics can generally still kill all the bacteria
• We use around 100,000 tons of antibiotics each year
• Over two thirds of that 100,000 tons is given to animals to prevent illness and make them grow faster
• This is a breeding ground for antibiotic resistance
• Scientists are trying to develop new antibiotics to work against resistant strains, but it's proving difficult and slow