Evolution and Antibiotic Resistance

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Evolution and Antibiotic Resistance Within the last 70 years or so, antibiotics have been increasing the population’s health in numerous ways. They have helped prevent the flu, whooping cough, tuberculosis, and a number of other diseases. As time has progress, the pathogens have been able to become stronger and adapt to the antibiotics. This action is referred to as antibiotic resistance. Because of antibiotic resistance antibiotics are becoming less and less effective. When your body builds up immunity to the pathogens; the pathogens mutate and become a similar but at the same time different disease and are able to attack the cells. Natural selection is the reason what is causing the mutations (Maclean, Hall, Perron, & Buckling, 2010). Natural selection is one of the mechanisms of evolutions. The way that the infectious pathogens are becoming stronger is just like the scenario that Darwin refers too with the beetles. A person will get a shot to prevent getting a virus or disease. The way that shot works is that it builds a “wall” to prevent the pathogens from getting to you cells and causing them to be infected. One of the most common mechanisms of antibiotic resistance is caused by chromosomal mutation (Maclean, Hall, Perron, & Buckling, 2010). Chromosomal mutation modifies the enzymes that it targets and forms a bond that tricks the enzyme to believe that it a good enzyme. But, sometimes the mutation is not successful in bonding because the mutation was not strong enough to bond completely. An example of how a pathogen can mutate is streptococcal pharyngitis. Streptococcal pharyngitis is strep throat. Most of the time you are given some sort of “cillin”, like amoxicillin or penicillin, to treat the virus. Many people can get it more than once a year. Each time a person gets strep throat, it is a different form of strep throat. Although it is

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