genetic engineering

• Antibiotics


  A group of drugs that can kill bacteria
• Antibiotics


  • Penicillin
• Penicillin was the first antibiotic to be discovered almost 100 years ago
• At first, penicillin was able to kill loads of different types of bacteria
• Some types of bacteria have now become resistant to penicillin because it has been used for so long
• How antibiotic resistance happens

  1. Bacteria develop random mutations in their DNA

  2. Mutations can change their characteristics

  3. Occasionally, mutations result in bacteria being less affected by the antibiotic

  4. Resistant bacteria survive while other bacteria are killed

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


  A new type of bacteria that has the gene for antibiotic resistance
• Antibiotic resistant bacteria survive


  Antibiotics are no longer effective
• Antibiotic resistant bacteria are passed on to other people

  The new antibiotic also doesn't work
• Bacteria becoming resistant to multiple antibiotics

  1. Resistant bacteria develop resistance to a different type of antibiotic

  2. This process can happen again and again
• Superbugs


  Bacteria that are resistant to lots of different types of antibiotics
• Superbug


  • MRSA
• It's super uncommon for bacteria to develop full resistance, often it's only partial resistance
• 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 by farmers to prevent illness and promote growth
• This is a breeding ground for antibiotic resistance
• Scientists are trying to develop new antibiotics that work against resistant strains, but it is difficult and slow