Campbell Biology (11th Edition)

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0-13409-341-0
ISBN 13: 978-0-13409-341-3

Chapter 27 - Test Your Understanding - Level 2 - Application/Analysis - Page 590: 7

Answer

Short-term, discontinued use of antibiotics provides selective pressure for resistance to the antibiotics. Resistant bacteria survive and then, once the medicine is discontinued, thrive. The resulting post-treatment bacterial population is proportionally more resistant and, thus, more difficult to kill.

Work Step by Step

This highlights the importance of taking all of a course of medicine-- it has evolutionary implications for the population of pathogens attacking you and can make recovery harder or impossible. Evolution plays out everywhere.
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