Source [p1]
Before you come in and correct the title, the reason it is stated that way is because in most cases it is true. The correct statement is antibiotics put selective pressure for resistance and the difference is quite large. The TL;DR version is simply that antibiotics do not cause bacteria to change their genetics in order to become resistant (otherwise they would be bad antibiotics) but instead they kill those with no resistance letting the ones with random mutations of resistance to live giving them free roam and no other pressures allowing them to reproduce and pass on their resistance. This post is going to go through how antibiotics create selective pressure for bacteria, how bacteria with resistance can pass on their genes, and finally we will go over an example of an experiment that shows antibiotic resistance happen. With this I will conclude with a short recap and why antibiotic resistance is a danger for this world.
Bacteria and Antibiotics
Bacteria are single-cell microorganisms that can provide many uses in the ecosystem. Some bacteria are beneficial to humans or other animals, some are harmful, but most pose no threat or risk to a majority of organisms[1]. Antibiotics are a group of chemicals that are toxic to specific types of bacteria (not all antibiotics affect all bacteria) and each can work in its own unique way. Now the special thing about bacteria is that they can generate and evolve new genes and share them throughout a population. Meaning that if one bacteria gains a random mutation to be resistance to a specific type of antibiotic then it can share that gene with nearby bacteria through pieces of genetic code called plasmids. This sharing of genetic material can happen with bacteria that are relatives (similar genus/species) or through much further ties allowing a mutation to affect very large portions of the bacteria population[2]. This means that by simply using substances with antibiotics (antibiotic soaps/cleaners) you can select for a population of bacteria that is resistant to that antibiotic.
But what does it mean to "select for" antibiotic resistance?
Selecting for resistance means that you put pressure on all of the other bacteria that puts them at a disadvantage if they do not have the antibiotic resistance mutation, or one of them. Since you do not put pressure, or as much, onto the bacteria with resistance you allow it to thrive and reproduce making more of itself and increase the likelihood of transferring plasmids making more bacteria resistant.
That sounds like you are creating antibiotic resistance!
Ah but you are not making the mutations that cause that resistance. Ultimately that might be up to chance but depending on the antibiotic will change how it might work. Some antibiotics might be susceptible to specialized pumps on the surface of the bacteria that actively pump out the antibiotic, others might be susceptible to the production of proteins that can prevent the antibiotic from doing its job by binding to it, and sometimes the bacteria produces enzymes that break down the antibiotic.
So should we not use antibiotics at all?
No you can still use them but when you do there should be a few rules. First of all, do not take them unless you have a bacterial infection. Secondly stop using antibiotic soaps, especially soaps with very minute amounts of antibiotics such that it wouldn't kill any bacteria but put it in their presence to still apply a slight selective pressure. Thirdly, when given a coarse of antibiotics, take them all. By not taking all of the antibiotics you provide an opportunity for some of the bacteria with a slight resistance to the antibiotics to pass down their genes and potentially increase the resistance overall. The last thing that should happen are not so much in the consumers hands but in th hands of others, for instance to reduce the number of broad spectrum antibiotics pumped into meat, to give patients a concoction of antibiotics (2-3) such that if the bacteria is resistant to 1 then it will be less likely to survive all the others. And finally, collect certain secretions (urine and fecal matter) to prevent the antibiotics present in that to get into the wild population. That last part might sound gross but by decreasing any interaction with the antibiotics that the bacteria have, we decrease the chance of bacteria to gain a selective pressure that selects for resistance.
The Experiment
So this is an experiment that actually shows everything that I am talking about. I will share the video as I found it quite entertaining. The video is here and is done by the Harvard school of medicine. Before You Watch The Video I want you to predict what happens. First of all they have a giant dish that has different sections, each with increasing amounts of antibiotics. They let a bacteria grow and roam free between sections (but the antibiotics stay in their respective section) Te layout looks like the following for relative levels:
0x,1x,10x,100x,1000x,100x,10x,1x,0x
where x is the lethal amount of antibiotics to kill a population of ecoli. I want you to guess (in your head) what will happen at each of the boarders between sections before watching the experiment. Maybe even write a comment saying what you think will happen before you continue!
Options for the Future
It may seem like the future is meek and bleak but there are some options present to us. First of all we have the potential to discover new antibiotics or new classes of antibiotics. Another potential answer is nanotechnology as it could potentially allow us to combat bacteria some day. The third (and this is getting more taboo) is bacteriophages which are viruses that infect bacteria. You see if a bacteria evolves resistance to a phage then we can use the process of co-evolution to allow the phages to evolve to combat the bacteria. All of these have their own drawbacks but are each potential, or partial, solutions to the problem[3].
Recap!
Instead of doing a recap in text I thought I would share another video which covers the topic pretty well, with animations. Te video is done by Kurzgesagt, in a Nutshell and is truly one of my favorite youtube channels but either way I feel they explain this topic in an easy to grasp way. You can find the video here as I highly recommend checking it out. I will not embed the video as this could be seen as not being a purely educational source. For this reason I highly recommend that you watch the video.
References
Pictures:
[p1] commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Antimicrobial_resistance_-_mutation.gif
[p2] pixabay.com/en/bacteria-virus-illness-bacterium-156869/
Text:
[1] www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMHT0022589/
[2] www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378521/
[3] www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC90351/
Text Source Without Direct Reference:
[1] www.cdc.gov/antibiotic-use/community/about/antibiotic-resistance-faqs.html
Videos:
Fun Fact!
The methods to annunciate the word forte, in English, come from Italy and France with the French way of saying it to be the same as the word fort. Now you can go to dinner and say: "Eating is my fort!" and your family will look at you strangely and correct you but you can correct them saying that what you said wasn't incorrect making you look like a stupid person until you prove them wrong. After that they will just call you other names.
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