How do bacteria develop antibiotic resistance?

So when we give an antibiotic (a drug that kills bacteria) it will kill all of the bacteria that are sensitive to it, if it's taken correctly. A few bacteria may have an adaptation allowing them to resist and therefore survive the antibiotic but the body can deal with these as there's so few bacteria left. If someone doesn't finish their course of antibiotics, more bacteria are left and they multiply, including the ones with the mutation allowing them to be resistant to the antibiotic, and because there are plenty left due to the person not taking all of their antibiotics, the body can't always destroy the remaining bacteria. This means that the infection comes back, but this time it won't respond to the first antibiotic that was given because the surviving population has become resistant.

CN
Answered by Charlotte N. Biology tutor

3190 Views

See similar Biology GCSE tutors

Related Biology GCSE answers

All answers ▸

Describe how living things are involved in the constant cycling of carbon.


Plants require nitrates for growth. To maximise crop yield, farmers utilise techniques such as crop rotation and ploughing of fields prior to planting their seedlings. Explain how the two techniques mentioned improve plant yield:


Explain how blood circulates through the heart?


What is the general structure of an animal cell?


We're here to help

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

© MyTutorWeb Ltd 2013–2025

Terms & Conditions|Privacy Policy
Cookie Preferences