Why are humans becoming resistant to antibiotics?
Antibiotic resistance is accelerated by the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, as well as poor infection prevention and control. Steps can be taken at all levels of society to reduce the impact and limit the spread of resistance.
What happens if you are resistant to antibiotics?
When bacteria become resistant, the original antibiotic can no longer kill them. These germs can grow and spread. They can cause infections that are hard to treat. Sometimes they can even spread the resistance to other bacteria that they meet.
What does an antibiotic do?
Antibiotics are medicines that fight infections caused by bacteria in humans and animals by either killing the bacteria or making it difficult for the bacteria to grow and multiply.
What are the four ways a bacteria can become resistant to an antibiotic?
Antibiotic resistance mechanisms
- Pump the antibiotic out from the bacterial cell. Bacteria can produce pumps that sit in their membrane or cell wall.
- Decrease permeability of the membrane that surrounds the bacterial cell.
- Destroy the antibiotic.
- Modify the antibiotic.
What is antibiotic resistance and how does it affect you?
Antibiotic resistance happens when the germs no longer respond to the antibiotics designed to kill them. That means the germs are not killed and continue to grow. It does not mean our body is resistant to antibiotics.
Why do antibiotics change the structure of bacteria?
Bacteria are able to change their structures so they still function exactly as they did before but so the antibiotic doesn’t recognise them. These mechanisms can occur when the bacteria are inside us, inside animals or out in the environment. This is why using antibiotics in the farming industry is such a problem.
Are We overusing antibiotics?
But now, because we are overusing antibiotics, the bacteria are encountering them all the time and therefore keeping their resistance mechanisms. Hence the crisis. Bacteria frequently now encounter antibiotics in the environment (such as the soil) as well as in our bodies and those of animals.
Why are antibiotics bad for the environment?
These mechanisms can occur when the bacteria are inside us, inside animals or out in the environment. This is why using antibiotics in the farming industry is such a problem. The bacteria can become antibiotic-resistant in the animals, and then they can pass into the environment through things like manure.