antibiotic resistance
Superbugs' survival advantage
Antibiotic resistance is the ability of bacteria to survive exposure to drugs designed to kill them.
Through mutation and natural selection, bacteria adapt to antibiotics that once destroyed them, making infections harder to treat.
The term often appears in public health discussions as a growing crisis: Overprescribing antibiotics accelerates antibiotic resistance.
Also called antimicrobial resistance when referring to drugs beyond antibiotics.
- overprescriptionExcessive medication ordering
- prescription drugsMedicine requiring doctor's order
- infectionPathogen invasion causing illness
- pathogenDisease-causing microorganism
- bacteriaNucleus-free single-celled organisms
MRSA · biofilm · gene transfer · plasmids · selective pressure · survival of the fittest · superbugs · agricultural use · CDC · World Health Organization · genetic mutations · strain · pharmaceutical · livestock · factory farms · hospital · evolution · adaption
- Drug ResistanceMRSA, superbug, AMR
- Health Threatsdisease, epidemic, pandemic, virus, outbreak
- public healthdisease prevention, immunization, disease control, health education, epidemiology
- science newspopular science, black holes, discovery, dinosaurs, research
- global threatsterrorism, nuclear war, cyberattacks, pandemic, nuclear weapons
- healthcare problemsmedical errors, misdiagnosis, high costs, long waits, staffing shortages
antibiotic resistancedrug sensitivity
Reaction intensity to medications
resistance, resistant, antibiotic, antibiotics, antibacterial, microorganism, resistances, antiviral, penicillin