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Bacteriophages: The Enemies of Bad Bacteria Are Our Friends!

- Diana Gutiérrez, Lucía Fernández, Beatriz Martínez, Ana Rodríguez, and Pilar García

Antibiotics have been used for almost a century to treat bacterial diseases in humans and also in animals. Throughout this time, bacteria have been looking for strategies to survive antibiotic treatment. Imagine a battlefield, where a population of bacteria is attacked by small bullets (antibiotics). If one of the bacteria can find a shield to protect itself, it will survive. The surviving bacteria will have the advantage of being resistant to antibiotics forever and so will their descendants. This is the reason why, when you get sick, you have to take all the pills prescribed by the doctor, even if you already feel better. This is very important to prevent "survivors" in the battle! Bacteria resistant to antibiotics (called "superbugs") are very dangerous for us, because we have no weapons to fight against them. Also, these resistant bacteria can be transmitted to other people or even to animals. Nowadays, there are a high number of bacteria that have become resistant to many different antibiotics, and this is a threat for people worldwide.

License information: CC BY 4.0
MPAA: G
Go to source: https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2016.00030

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