Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria

why can bacteria evolve rapidly?

because they reproduce at a fast rate

how do antibiotic resistant strains cause disease?

1) mutations of bacterial pathogens produce new strains

2) some strains might be resistant to antibiotics and so are not killed

3) they survive and reproduce and pass on the resistant allele so the populations of resistant strains rises

4) the resistant strain will then spread because people are not immune to it and there is no effective treatment

how is a new strain of antibiotic resistant bacteria formed?

1) there is a mutation in the bacteria population

2) the mutations causes some antibiotic resistance

3) these bacteria survive when antibiotics are given

4) the antibiotic resistant bacteria have no competition and multiply rapidly

5) eventually this results in a new strain of antibiotic resistant bacteria

why do antibiotic resistant strains spread?

because people don’t have immunity to it and there’s no effective treatment

what is MRSA?

it is an antibiotic-resistant bacteria

what can be done to reduce the rate of development of antibiotic resistant strains?

• by prescribing less antibiotics for people inappropriately → e.g. treating non-serious or viral infections

• by patients completing their course of antibiotics → so all bacteria are killed and none survive to mutate and form resistant strains

• by resisting agricultural uses of antibiotics

why can’t new antibiotics be made?

• the development is slow and costly

• it is unlikely to be able to keep up with emergence of new strains