What Doesnt Kill Them Makes Them Stronger

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Term Paper Title	What Doesnt Kill Them Makes Them Stronger
# of Words	1835
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	7.34

What Doesnt kill them makes them stronger

[Category]:

Science

[Paper Title]:

What doesnt kill them, makes them stronger

[Text]:

What Doesn’t Kill Them Makes Them Stronger

Humans live in constant contact with not only plants and animals, but also
with bacteria. Bacteria are everywhere: in water and soil and in the bodies of
humans and other animals. The majority of bacteria don’t have the ability to
cause disease, but that doesn’t mean that they are totally harmless. The
problem arises when disease – causing bacteria interact, and are frequently in
contact with the commensal, or harmless bacteria. They serve as reservoirs for
resistance genes; collecting them and holding them for future transmission to
other bacteria. As the resistance is transmitted from bacteria to bacteria,
eventually it will be passed to one with disease – causing potential.

Humans have grown accustomed to always having antibiotics just a prescription
away, and knowing that they will cure their illness. These chemical substances,
which are often natural, kill the bacteria by specifically targeting its
ribosome or replication machinery. “Virtually all of modern medicine rests on
the efficiency of

antibiotics, due to the fact that they not only cure bacterial infections but
also decrease the infectious disease risk of surgery, chemotherapy and
transplants to a low enough level to make them medically possible. But what
happens when these antibiotics fail to do their job, and there is nothing that
can stop the dangerous bacteria from spreading? This resistance to antibiotics
is becoming an increasing threat to the human population and precautions must be
taken to prevent the problem from getting worse.

In today’s society, bacteria are now more mobile than they ever were
before, which makes it even easier for them to multiply and transmit resistance.
They have grown to evolve naturally so that they are able to survive in the
hostile environments they are often subject to. Bacteria, in every environment
where antibiotics are used, are constantly evolving and exchanging genes that
confer resistance to antibiotics. The bacteria are able to transfer genes to one
another by means of horizontal gene transfer. This process allows bacteria to
become resistant to antibiotics by acquiring DNA from another bacterium that
already has the resistance. When the resistance is attained, that particular
antibiotic no longer is able to

inhibit the growth or kill the bacteria. Once a re...

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