Name:
Date:
Period:
Antibiotic Resistance
By Tash Hughes
www.wordconstructions.com/ articles/health/antibioticresist.html
When antibiotics were first identified as being effective,
they were widely used even when there was no obvious
bacterial infection present. Penicillin and all antibiotics
were called wonder drugs, and Doctors and patients alike
considered them appropriate for just about everything
There are two major drawbacks to this practice. Firstly, the
impact of so many antibiotics was to reduce the natural
bacteria colonies inside people’s bodies which reduced their
natural resistance to further infection; of course, this meant
they ‘needed’ more antibiotics.
The other drawback has become a major concern and has
resulted in a much more restricted use of antibiotics by
doctors and hospitals.
What’s wrong with using so many antibiotics?
Bacteria replicate very quickly and can go through many generations in a short time.
All living cells have the potential to replicate slightly differently to the original cell. Consider the line of
numbers 123456789 being copied by a school child into a book; often, the child will write 123456789 but
occasionally it may be written as 123546789 or 132456789. It is a small error to look at, but would it seem like
a small error if the numbers were your bank balance?
Such changes within a cell are called mutations. Some of these changes have very little impact whilst others can
cause the new cell to die or be significantly different in some way. Mutations can become a whole new sub
group of bacteria in a relatively short time because of their quick replication time.
Sometimes, a bacterium mutates in such a way that it becomes resistant or immune to an antibiotic that used to
kill that type of bacteria. Obviously, the resistant bacteria will survive the antibiotics so it is the only one to
replicate and potentially be passed onto another person.
Small sections of genetic material, called a plasmid, can actually move between bacterial cells of the same and
closely related types. These plasmids often contain more than one resistant factor, thus speeding the growth of
resistance in the colony.
What is antibiotic resistance?
Bacterial resistance is the reduced ability of an antibiotic to stop the bacteria causing disease in the host human.
The ways in which bacteria resist the antibiotics are:
o
Destroying the drug ~ some staphylococci produce penicillinase to destroy natural penicillins
o
o
o
o
Sites the antibiotic attaches to are altered and less susceptible to the drug
Over production of the enzyme which is targeted by the drug ~ the antibiotic can only negate so
much enzyme at once, thus some enzyme is left available to the bacteria
Cellular changes that reduce the cell absorbing the drug
Under production of substances antibiotics act upon
How do we reduce these problems?
The overuse of antibiotics encourages the bacterial strains that are resistant and thus it becomes harder to treat
patients. Now that we are aware of this, Doctors will only prescribe antibiotics when they are sure your illness
is caused by bacteria and can be helped by antibiotics.
Don’t expect antibiotics every time you visit a Doctor – antibiotics will not affect viral infections such as colds,
flu and most sore throats. Your expectations can influence how many unnecessary antibiotics are given out.
It is also important to use all of the antibiotics you are prescribed. If you don’t, it is likely that not all bacteria in
your system will be killed. The surviving bacteria will not only make you sick again, but they may have
developed a resistance to the drug after the initial exposure.
Any left over antibiotics must be disposed of; no one should ever have antibiotics that were not prescribed for
them and their current illness.
With more discriminate use of antibiotics, we can keep the numbers of resistant bacteria under control and make
sure that antibiotics are an effective tool for generations to come.
Questions:
1) What is an antibiotic?
2) Why is it important to take all of the antibiotic prescribed by a doctor (even if you feel better before all
of the medicine is gone)?
3) How and why do bacteria become resistant to antibiotics?
4) How can you prevent antibiotic resistance?
From the list of the diseases, indicate whether it is caused by a VIRUS or BACTERIA.
a) HIV/AIDS
h) ANTHRAX
b) RABIES
i) INFLUENZA
c) LYME DISEASE
j) DENTAL CAVITIES
d) EBOLA
k) STREP THROAT
e) POLIO
l) PINK EYE
f) SMALLPOX
m) PIMPLES
g) CHOLERA
n) COMMON COLD