Antibiotics
are used to kill bacteria in order to stop diseases. However, genes are
becoming resistant to these antibiotics and they're becoming useless.This is a
big problem considering antibiotics are commonly used in medicine. The
antibiotic resistant genes spread when the genes on plasmids transfer between
bacteria. These plasmids are fragments of DNA in bacteria and carry proteins
that can make bacteria resistant to the antibiotics. Scientists at UdeM
have found a way to block the transfer of the genes that are resistant to the
antibiotics. TraE protein is a protein that is necessary for the plasmid
transfers. They figured out which molecules bind to TraE and exactly where they
bind. They used this information to create new binding proteins that would take
place of where the antibiotic resistant genes bind. They could use these
molecules to create inhibitors for antibiotic resistant gene transfers and
could spread them in areas like hospitals where most of this resistance
happens.
This article was very interesting. At a young age I was taught in school that antibiotics kill a lot of bacteria in your body. When doing that, they not only kill bad bacteria but they kill good bacteria with it. When you get rid of good bacteria you're more susceptible to getting sick. Ever since I've learned this I really never take medicine when I'm sick. I prefer to let my body attack the virus naturally. I know a lot of people however that do take antibiotics whenever they get sick and they always keep getting sick. The fact that scientists are now finding a way to stop antibiotic resistance is great because we need antibiotics in case of really serious illnesses. This new information could also help scientists develop ways to stop diseases from spreading.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171122093030.htm
After reading this article it made me wonder how this could impact a patient after surgery or patients that develop a serious illness.
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