Antibiotic Resistance
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Key Stage 4
Meaning
Antibiotic resistance is the tendency of bacterial colonies to become immune to the use of antibiotics.
About Antibiotic Resistance
- Antibiotic resistance is evidence for evolution by natural selection.
The process of antibiotic resistance of a colony of bacteria takes place over several generations.
- Antibiotics are used to kill a colony of bacteria.
- Bacteria within the colony are all slightly different due to genetic variation so a few may not be affected by the antibiotic.
- Some bacteria survive the antibiotic due to a number of reasons, but a proportion of those is due to a variation that has made them resistant.
- In the next generation there will be many more resistant bacteria since the others have died and cannot reproduce.
- When antibiotics are used again this removes all of the non-resistant bacteria leaving behind an entire colony of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
- As a result of evolution many disease causing bacteria can no longer be treated with common antibiotics.