Question

 

• Describe antibiotic tolerance. How does it differ from antibiotic resistance?
• How do bacteria compensate for the decreased fitness cost of resistance?
• Describe factors important for the emergence of new pathogens and know examples of emerging pathogens and why they emerged

Answer 1

Describe antibiotic tolerance. How does it differ from antibiotic resistance?

• Antibiotic resistance is defined as the acquired resistance by a microorganism whereas antibiotic tolerance is the innate ability of a microbe or cell population to resist antibiotic effect.

How do bacteria compensate for the decreased fitness cost of resistance?

• Bacteria can compensate for the decreased fitness cost of resistance by second-site mutations which does not lead to the compromising resistance as it restores the fitness of the microbe in the absence of antibiotic selection.

Describe factors important for the emergence of new pathogens and know examples of emerging pathogens and why they emerged?

Factors important for the emergence of new pathogens are -

• Ecological changes because of agriculture or economic development
• human demographic changes
• Technological industry
• Microbial adaptation
• Travelling and trade
• Disturbance in population growth
• Migration
• Poverty
• antimicrobial resistance

Examples of emerging pathogens and their cause -

• Influenza - the virus of influenza has the ability to change its genetic information and this can be one of the reasons for its emergence.
• HIV - close contact with animals like chimpanzees was thought of as its first infection. Spread through air travel and human behaviour like intravenous drug abuses is the cause of its emergence.