Why should we not overprescribe and overuse antibiotics?

Antibiotics are used for killing bacteria and therefore, it can act as a selection pressure. This means that the bacteria can mutate, in order to avoid being killed and this would be a favourable mutation, as only those bacteria that have this mutation will survive to reproduce. This selects out those bacteria with the mutation (and kills off all the ones without the mutation) and therefore: the antibiotic wil no longer work. Overuse of antibiotics exposes the bacteria already present in our body to the selection pressure and could potentially cause mutations to come about.

NR
Answered by Niva R. Biology tutor

3375 Views

See similar Biology GCSE tutors

Related Biology GCSE answers

All answers ▸

How do you calculate the magnification of an image? For example, if the real size of a cell is 30um and the size of the cell in the textbook is 60mm, what is the magnification?


Name the enzyme present in the saliva and what is its role in digestion


What is diffusion?


How does respiration occur in living cells?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning