Antibiotic Resistance Article
Enduring Understandings:
Natural selection is a driving force for evolution
All living things share a common ancestor
Diversity is beneficial for life on Earth
Populations are constantly evolving
Essential Questions:
Why do I have wisdom teeth?
Why don’t antibiotics cure all infections?
Why are people taller around the equator than around the poles?
TEKS:
6.E identify and illustrate changes in DNA and evaluate the significance of these changes
7.C analyze and evaluate how natural selection produces change in populations, not individuals
7.D analyze and evaluate how the elements of natural selection, including inherited variation, the potential of a population to produce more offspring than can survive, and a finite supply of environmental resources, result in differential reproductive success 7.E analyze and evaluate the relationship of natural selection to adaptation and to the development of diversity in and among species
DIRECTIONS
Read the article “Battle of the Bugs: Fighting Antibiotic Resistance” and answer the following questions.
1. According to CDC estimates, how many hospital patients die each year of bacterial infections obtained while in a hospital? 90,000
2. What percentage of bacterial strains are resistant to at least one of the antibiotics commonly used to treat infections? More than 70%
3. When did microbes begin appearing that were resistant to penicillin? In the late 1940’s
4. What is the strongest antibiotic used to treat infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus? Vancomycin
5. Why has antibiotic resistance happened? Certain bacteria resist the effects of the antibiotics (are not killed) and multiply and spread. 6. Explain why the increase of antibiotic resistance is an outcome of evolution. Because some bacteria are naturally resistant to specific antibiotics they are not killed off by these drugs, and reproduce, creating new populations of bacteria that are resistant. Over