Antibiotics are extremely important in medicine, but
unfortunately bacteria are capable of developing resistance to them.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are germs that are not killed by commonly used
antibiotics. When bacteria are exposed to the same antibiotics over and over,
the bacteria can change and are no longer affected by the drug.
Bacteria have number of ways how they become
antibiotic-resistant. For example, they possess an internal mechanism of
changing their structure so the antibiotic no longer works, they develop ways
to inactivate or neutralize the antibiotic. Also bacteria can transfer the
genes coding for antibiotic resistance between them, making it possible for
bacteria never exposed to an antibiotic to acquire resistance from those which
have. The problem of antibiotic resistance is worsened when antibiotics are
used to treat disorders in which they have no efficacy (e.g. antibiotics are
not effective against infections caused by viruses), and when they are used
widely as prophylaxis rather than treatment.
Resistance to antibiotics poses a serious and growing
problem, because some infectious diseases are becoming more difficult to treat.
Resistant bacteria do not respond to the antibiotics and continue to cause
infection. Some of these resistant bacteria can be treated with more powerful
medicines, but there some infections that are difficult to cure even with new
or experimental drugs.
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