3.39: Understand How Resistance to Antibiotics can Increase in Bacterial Populations, and Appreciate How Such an Increase can Lead to Infections being Difficult to control

ANTIBIOTICS: Compound that kills or inhibits the growth of microbes (bacteria)

ANTIBIOTIC- RESISTANCE OF BACTERIA:

ANTIBIOTIC - RESISTANT BACTERIA

Diagram showing the emergence of Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria

EXPLANATION: With the increase in antibiotic use, Bacteria will undergo rare and random mutations to show variation amongst bacterial population Bacteria that develops antibiotic-resistant gene will survive, increasing chances of survival This Bacteria will reproduce via binary fission to pass on this antibiotic-resistant gene to offspring that will inherit the same resistance Overtime, population of antibiotic-resistant Bacteria will increase, therefore making it more difficult to combat Bacterial growth

CONSEQUENCES: With the increase in population of antibiotic-resistant Bacteria, there is difficulty curing and controlling bacterial infections and diseases While research for new antibiotics are ongoing, Superbugs - a type of Bacteria that is resistant to all known antibiotics, raises concerns about the effectiveness of antibiotics in the future