1. The Evolution of Bacteria and Disease
By: Kaitlin Taylor

2. Introduction Bacteria has been around forever
When penicillin was discovered, it was a medical miracle
Penicillin vanquished WW2’s biggest killer-bacterial infected wounds
4 yrs. later, suddenly microbes could resist penicillin..

3. Why was this happening? Well evolution of course!!
Bacteria has variations, we know evolution likes variation..
Bacterial variants have evolved to resist antibiotics
More bacteria have evolved, and now there are things like “super bugs”

4. How do antibiotics work?
Penicillin kills bacteria by attaching to the cell wall
Part of the cell wall is destroyed, and the cell will die
Penicillin can also affect the ribosome's of a bacterial cell

5. How does Antibiotic Resistance Work?
Let’s look at some biology…
Antibiotic Resistance happens in 3 ways:

6. Antibiotic Resistance Cont’d…
1) In spontaneous DNA mutation, bacterial DNA may mutate sporadically

7. Antibiotic Resistance Cont’d…
2) Transformation process where one bacterium takes the DNA of another

8. Antibiotic Resistance Cont’d…
Plasmid DNA flicking from one bacterium to another… This one is the scariest form.

9. Other reasons bacteria become resistant..
Societal factors too..
Inappropriate drug use
Transmission of disease
Sometimes we don’t need antibiotics!

10. How can we solve this problem?
Limit the use of antibiotics
Fight evolution with.. Evolution!
Example: Cholera
Theoretical Example: AIDS
It’s hard to say for certain….

11. Conclusion This evolutionary science is still in its early stages
We need to be more careful with antibiotics!!!!
Using public health measures can help too

12. Thank you. .