November 18-24 is World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week.
How do microbes become resistant?
☛ antibiotics kill the bacteria that caused the disease, but resistant microbes do not die;
☛ antibiotics also destroy beneficial bacteria that protect the body from infections;
☛ resistant bacteria are protected, which allows them to continue to cause disease;
☛ microbes are able to transfer drug resistance to other bacteria, and infected people become carriers.
☛ In order to survive, microbes invent new protective strategies - "resistance mechanisms".
☛ Bacteria "write" them on their DNA and thus pass resistance to the next generations.
(based on the materials of the Public Health Center of Ukraine)
To be continued.
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