antibiotics

Question 1

what are antibiotics?

Answer 1

chemical substances made by certain fungi or bacteria that affect the working of bacterial cells, either by disrupting their structure of function or preventing them from reproducing

Question 2

how do antibiotics work?

Answer 2

by inhibiting certain cell processes within bacterial cells

Question 3

what does bacteria becoming resistance to antibiotics mean?

Answer 3

the antibiotic is no longer effective at killing the bacteria

Question 4

what is antibiotic resistance an example of?

Answer 4

natural selection

Question 5

how to prevent resistance bacteria?

Answer 5

doctors need to avoid the overuse of antibiotics
antibiotics should not be used in non-serious infections
should not be used for viral infections
finish the whole course of antibiotics- all bacteria are killed and none are left to mutate to resistant strains
antibiotic use should be reduced in industries such as agriculture

Question 6

how did antibiotic resistance happen in the first place?

Answer 6

initially, none of the bacteria was resistant
doctors began to use penicillin which killed the bacteria
a chance mutation gave bacteria resistance to the antibiotic
these bacteria were better adapted to an environment in which penicillin was used
they survived in greater numbers- there were fewer non-resistant bacteria- there is less competition for resources
the resistant bacteria reproduce rapidly and passed on the resistant allele
this was repeated with each generation of bacteria
the proportion of bacteria with the resistance allele increased until most had the allele

Question 7

why do antibiotics not affect viruses?

Answer 7

antibiotics work by disrupting cell functions such as respiration, or breaking down the structure of the cell in some way
viruses do not carry out any cell functions and do not have cell walls, cell membranes or any cell organelles
therefore the action of antibiotics do not affect them