LYCOS RETRIEVER
Antibiotics: Resistant Bacteria
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The development of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics essentially occurs due to the evolutionary process and natural selection. More precisely, when a group of bacteria are exposed to an antibiotic, only those that exhibit a certain trait or mutation can survive. These remaining bacteria reproduce and pass the same characteristic to their offspring, resulting in an entire generation of microbes that are resistant to that particular compound. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria were discovered as early as the 1960s, when strains of both pneumonia-causing pneumococcus and the Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacterium that is responsible for gonorrhea were discovered. Some of the other common bacteria that have since been found to be unaffected by antibiotics that were formerly effective in rendering them harmless include Salmonella, Streptococci, and Escherichia coli.
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Pharmacists in hospitals and health systems ensure that patients receive the right type of antibiotics. They ... help create procedures to prevent the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospitals and other health-care facilities.
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Every time a person takes antibiotics, sensitive bacteria are killed, but resistant germs may be left to grow and multiply. Repeated and improper uses of antibiotics are primary causes of the increase in drug-resistant bacteria.
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