Evolution of Bacteria Resistance: Resistance to Antibiotics, Reduction of Biodiversity, Interventions to Deal with Antibiotic Resistance (Essay Sample)

Evolution of Bacteria Resistance
Name
Institution
Evolution of Bacteria Resistance
Chosen Bacterium
The chosen bacterium for consideration is Staphylococcus aureus. The genus is Staphylococcus and the species name is aureus. The bacterium has been associated with a number of infections including pneumonia, blood stream and joint infections. The bacterium has shown an increase in resistance to several antibiotics due to natural and adaptive resistance (Wellington et al., 2013).
Resistance to Antibiotics
The bacterium has developed resistance against a number of antibiotics leading to challenges in the drugs available to overcome it. S. aureus has adaptive evolution that has enabled it to respond to the antibiotic environment by altering some of its mechanism (Wellington et al., 2013). The bacterium acquires antibiotic resistance through inactivation of the enzymes that are targeted by the antibiotics. Also, the bacterium alters the permeability of the membranes to the drug by decreasing the affinity for the antibiotics. Another mechanism is trapping of the drug as well as development of efflux pumps. These methods are part of the natural selection that is intrinsic to S. aureus (Wellington et al., 2013).
Reduction of Biodiversity
The use of antibiotics has led to reduction of bacteria biodiversity as the bacteria continue to evolve to adapt to the new environment. The modification of the enzymes and changes in the gene flow has led to new forms of bacteria that are mutants differing significantly from the wild type S. auerus (Laxminarayan et al., 2014).
Interventions to Deal with Antibiotic Resistance
The medical community should come up with new ways of addressing the issue of antibiotic resistance by targeting the molecular aspects of the bacteria (Laxminarayan et al., 2014). Also, the medical community should use a combination of many antibiotics to reduce the possibility of developing resistance. Additionally, the medical practitioner ...