• Question: How do we beat bacteria and if we do what effect we will have?

    Asked by Dr.Unknown to Sinead, Neil, Mark, Florence, Anne on 11 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by 473drud47.
    • Photo: Florence McCarthy

      Florence McCarthy answered on 11 Nov 2015:

      I’m not sure we really should beat bacteria as many bacteria live in harmony with our bodies and are in fact necessary for good health. The key is to only kill the bacteria that are harmful and only then when there is a danger to our bodies. New antibiotics and better use of our current antibiotics are essential for this as bacteria develop/mutate faster than we do.

    • Photo: Sinead Balgobin

      Sinead Balgobin answered on 11 Nov 2015:

      There are lots of good bacteria that keep us healthy, so we shouldn’t beat all bacteria, or we wouldn’t survive very long! We do need to treat bad bacteria though- but because they evolve so quickly it is difficult to find a treatment that will work forever. That’s just nature… It’s also why we shouldn’t over-use antibiotics, or use them when you don’t really need them- the bacteria can evolve to be resistant and not be killed by the antibiotics any more, and that would be really dangerous- people would die from infections we think are not very serious today.

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