• Question: Will we ever become resistant to antibiotics?

    Asked by jilsejoshy to Sally, Rob, Matt, Marikka, Ceri on 7 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Sally Cutler

      Sally Cutler answered on 7 Nov 2014:

      Hi, if I understand you correctly, your concern is about humans becoming resistant to antibiotics. You can rest assured in that antibiotics act by blocking a pathway that is possessed by bacteria, but not present in us. Because of this, humans will not become resistant as we are not actually susceptible to the effects of the antibiotic.

    • Photo: Robert Hampson

      Robert Hampson answered on 7 Nov 2014:

      Antibiotics are designed to kill bacteria. The ideal antibiotic would not affect human cells at all. In a way, we are already resistant to antibiotics!

      An increasing problem is that bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics. There are many different bacteria which are already resistant to most antibiotics. There are some especially dangerous strains of tuberculosis, MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus), and Clostridium difficile (causes stomach bugs). If antibiotics keep being used for minor illnesses and to prevent illnesses in cattle, sheep and other livestock; then there is a high possibility of more bacteria becoming resistant. This means that when we become infected with these bacteria, there will be no way to treat the illness. This is why many scientists are currently trying to design new antibiotics and invent drugs which block the common causes of resistance.

      Hope that helps!

    • Photo: Ceri Dare

      Ceri Dare answered on 7 Nov 2014:

      There are already some bacterial infections which cannot be treated at all by antibiotics, such as totally drug-resistant tuberculosis, and rare cases of gonorrhoea. This is very scary!

      But the good thing is that bacteria have to work harder to stay antibiotic-resistant, so if we can avoid using too many antibiotics, then the super-resistant bacteria might die out.

    • Photo: Matt Bilton

      Matt Bilton answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      Antibiotics have been amazing for treating diseases caused by bacteria, but lots of types of bacteria can resist antibiotics now. A big problem is that when bacteria divide, their DNA gets copied and often there are ‘mistakes’ causing the bacteria to mutate.

      Some of these mutations may be bad for the bacteria, but some may allow the bacteria to resist antibiotics – and these ‘mistakes’ are bad for us.

      Bacteria can also share their DNA – so once a ‘mistake’ has been made which allows the bacteria to resist antibiotics, it is extremely difficult to get rid of all those antibiotic resistant bacteria.

      Over time, it is natural that most antibiotics will become less useful – so it is important to use antibiotics wisely so that they can last longer – and for scientists to develop totally new types of antibiotics. Vaccines are another solution as they can help your immune system to fight bacteria, and unlike antibiotics they are most useful at preventing infection from happening in the first place.

    • Photo: Marikka Beecroft

      Marikka Beecroft answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      Humans will not become resistant to antibiotics as antibiotics are used to treat bacteria which are very different to us and how our cells are structured.

      Bacteria become resistant when we start to depend on antibiotics for treating everything and this over use can cause the bacteria to change it’s DNA accidentally (mutation) and this may make them survive better. They then can multiply and give these genes to other bacteria and thus more and more become resistant.

      If we ever want to see a decrease in antibiotic resistance we need to start using less antibiotics, start developing new antibiotics and educating people to finish their course of antibiotic treatments so no bacteria will survive and pass resistance on. This will eventually cause the bacteria to stop being resistant as they would now no longer need that mutation to survive.

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