Assignment:
Antibiotic Resistance
For many years, antibiotics have been effectively used to treat bacterial disease.
A growing concern for treating bacterial diseases is the evolution of antibiotic resistance by bacterial populations. Resistance means that a particular antibiotic is no longer effective in treating a disease. This resistance can be viewed as evolution of a new trait at the population level, which is resistance to an antibiotic.
Recommended: Click on the following links to review materials to increase your understanding of natural selection and antibiotic resistance:
Understanding Evolution
Antibiotic Resistance
Focus your discussion on ONE of the following topics:
- The use, overuse, and abuse of antibiotics are accredited with creating antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Explain how this relates to natural selection.
- Visit this tool: ResistanceOpen. Type in your location to find and report on how common antibiotic-resistant bacteria are in your area. Compare the incidence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in your area with that in Lincoln, NE and Miami, FL. Do the results concern you? Give 1 suggestion for why there are such widely different results.
- Using a credible source, describe at least 2 of the things that people do (you can include individuals, doctors, health care professionals, hospitals, farmers, and so on) that contribute to this problem. Explain.
- Are there things that you can personally do to reduce your risk or even to reduce the spread of these dangerous microbes?
Use at least 1 credible source to support the arguments presented in your post.