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Explain how the effectiveness of an antibiotic decreases with time.

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Answered 2 years ago
Answered 2 years ago

The effectiveness of an antibiotic decreases with time because after a certain period of time, more and more of the bacteria will become resistant. The bacteria that are resistant have certain genes and properties that make them resistant. When the bacteria that is not resistant is killed off, the bacteria that is resistant to the antibiotic will reproduce over and over. After a certain amount of time, only resistant bacteria are left. They can only be killed by creating a new antibiotic that can eliminate them. To sum it up, mutations in bacteria make the effectiveness decrease.

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