Bacteria Bite Back – Class Set
Copy down the following sentences and fill in the blanks.
1. “Staph” (pronounced “staff”) is short for staphylococcus aureus. It is a bacteria
that can cause… (page 8)
2. Doctor’s in Japan had to use several strong antibiotics at the same time to save the
baby’s life because it was infected with a new strain of staph that was resistant to
antibiotics. (page 8)
3. The three types of people that are most at risk from resistant bacteria are 1) sick,
2) elderly, and 3) very young. (page 9)
4. Complete the following sentences about 3 types of antibiotics.
a. Penicillin kills bacteria by breaking the cell walls. (page 9)
b. Tetracycline kills bacteria by stopping them from reproducing. (page 9)
c. Linezolid kills bacteria by disabling the RNA so it can’t make proteins. (page
11)
5. It is important to finish antibiotics that your doctor gives you because the
strongest bacteria would survive and pass their “strong” genes so offspring will be
resistant to antibiotics. (page 10)
6. If you take antibiotics for a viral infection, it could help bacteria become more
resistant because they attack the helpful bacteria and may pass on resistant genes
to offspring. (page 10-11)
7. Most outbreaks of resistant bacteria happen in hospitals because there are a lot of
sick people and a lot of antibiotics used. (page 11)
8. The 3 ways that bacteria can get antibiotic-resistant genes are 1) passing plasmids
from one bacteria to another, 2) releasing DNA when they die, and 3) getting
infected by a virus that has gotten the gene from another bacterium. (page 11)