Basics
The ability of bacteria to survive and grow despite antibiotic treatment.
What is antibiotic resistance?
Using antibiotics when they are not needed, such as for viral infections.
What is antibiotic overuse?
The structure that often carries antibiotic resistance genes and can be transferred between bacteria.
What is a plasmid?
The movement of genes between unrelated bacteria rather than from parent to offspring.
What is horizontal gene transfer?
The outcome in which only resistant bacteria survive and multiply after antibiotic use.
What is survival of resistant bacteria?
The type of organism that antibiotics are designed to target.
What are bacteria?
Stopping antibiotic treatment before completing the prescribed duration.
What is premature discontinuation of antibiotics?
The resistance mechanism in which bacteria produce enzymes that inactivate antibiotics.
What is enzymatic inactivation (e.g., β-lactamases)?
The type of horizontal gene transfer that requires direct cell-to-cell contact.
What is conjugation?
The approximate number of deaths directly caused each year by antimicrobial resistance worldwide.
What is approximately 1.27 million deaths per year?
The type of infections (e.g., influenza, COVID-19) that antibiotics cannot treat.
What are viral infections?
The effect of misuse that allows resistant bacteria to survive and multiply.
What is selection for resistant bacteria?
The bacterial structural feature in Gram-negative bacteria that limits antibiotic entry.
What is the outer membrane/Plasma Membrane?
The type of horizontal gene transfer involving uptake of free DNA from the environment.
What is transformation?
The approximate number of deaths per year in which antimicrobial resistance is a contributing factor.
What is approximately 5 million deaths per year?
The group of bacteria that are resistant to multiple classes of antibiotics.
What are multidrug-resistant bacteria?
This is not a reason why antibiotic resistance is a prevalent issue in society.
What is easy access to healthcare units such as hospitals to acquire antibiotics?
The mechanism by which bacteria alter the target site of an antibiotic to prevent binding.
What is target modification?
The type of horizontal gene transfer mediated by bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria).
What is transduction?
The projected annual deaths linked to bacterial resistance by 2050.
What is approximately 8 million deaths per year?
The evolutionary process that increases the frequency of resistant bacteria after antibiotic exposure.
What is natural selection?
These are two major areas where antibiotic resistance is commonly spread.
What are traditional livestock agriculture and hospitals?
The practice of prescribing antibiotics when they are not needed or choosing an inappropriate antibiotic for an infection.
What is inappropriate antibiotic prescribing?
The structure used during conjugation to transfer genetic material between bacteria.
What is a sex pilus?
The projected cumulative number of deaths globally attributed to antimicrobial resistance by 2050.
What is approximately 39 million deaths?