Question

Briefly explain to a high school student who has just finished their first year of biology why antibiotics can have harmful as well as have helpful effects.

Answer 1

ANSWER -

antibiotics , in general causes more side effects rather than positive effects.

over prolonged use of anti biotics for a specific pathogen, make the pathogen susceptible to it and also resistant to it. this results into mutation in pathogen by altering its genome against the effect of antibiotic and make antibiotic non functional for the same.

also,whe human body is healthy , it is a home of good bacteria which aids in specific functions,one of the function is the production of short chain fatty acids by bacteria in the healthy body of human being, which results into production of white blood cells. the antibiotics, sometimes, destroy these bacteria and thus may result into less production of wbc

in simple words, antibiotics , attack the own immune system and weaken the immune system and also as mentioned earlier make the pathogen prone to the antibiotic as pathogen alters its genome accordingly and become resistant to anti biotic.

along with this, there are various side effects of antibiotics, like vomiiting, headache , nausea, more hours of sleep , fatique , all these are caused due to the imbalance of the immune system and makes the body weak .

along with this, the antibiotics are useful , as they are very effective and attack their target efficiently and reduces the impact of pathogen in the body to a vast extent. these anti biotics with the help of t cells and other immune cells fight against the pathogen and brings out the speediest of recovery.

although, if it have positive effects , it also have negative effects, and thus , there the prolonged use of antibiotics may hamper the body. therefore, they should be taken up under the strict prescription of a doctor.