• Question: How are microbes becoming resistant to our medicines?

    Asked by anon-230764 to Jessica, Haafizah on 13 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Haafizah Hoosen

      Haafizah Hoosen answered on 13 Nov 2019:

      Microbes are quite clever. When we have antibiotics often the microbes that can be killed by them will be and the ones that can’t, survive – these can multiply so then we have more of the microbes that can’t be killed by the antibiotics.
      That’s why its important that we only introduce antibiotics or medicines into our body when we need them so they can be the most effective and we can get better.

    • Photo: Jessica Mitchell

      Jessica Mitchell answered on 14 Nov 2019:

      There are lots of ways microbes can become resistant to medicines, this is because they are alive and will do their best to stay alive! Medicines like antibiotics are designed to kill microbes, so the microbes are constantly ‘trying’ to survive these medicines. Some microbes can change their DNA so that antibiotics no longer work, some will produce chemicals which stop antibiotics working and we are finding out about other ways microbes can resist antibiotics.

      This type of resistance is completely natural BUT we as people are making it worse if we use antibiotics when we don’t need them or if we don’t finish a full course of antibiotics when we do need them. This is because any microbes in our bodies will get a chance to experience the antibiotic but not enough to be killed by it. This allows microbes to find of a way to survive the antibiotic which may mean antibiotics might not work next time you have that same bug.

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