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Our Battle Against Bacteria Essay

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Everything today is a product of evolution. From apes to Homo sapiens, humans have evolved from crawling on all fours to walking on two, flat feet. Mammals have grown from tiny rodents to a diverse category of cats, horses, dogs, elephants, dolphins, and many others. However, there wouldn't be evolution without natural selection; it's what sets everything apart and gives unique genes a purpose. Without this, species would not have the chance to adapt and thrive in the various, ever-changing climates of the world. Polar bears have thick coats to keep them warm in the arctic, cactus have spikes to protect them from the harsh, desert environments, and dolphins use sonar to communicate and detect objects underwater. However, the traits that …show more content…

The first antibiotic, penicillin, was introduced in the 1940s and since then antibiotics have become the most widely used medicine against bacterial infections in Western Europe and the Americas (Emanuele 363; Gill and Hyman 2). When a doctor is determining which antibiotic to use, Gerri Kaufman emphasizes several factors that should be considered: is the bacteria Gram-positive or Gram-negative, does it need water or is it anaerobic, can the antibiotic be used for more than one bacteria, and does the bacteria need to be killed or slowed down (49-50). To determine if the bacteria is Gram-negative or –positive, scientists will use “Gram-staining” which stains Gram-positive bacteria because they possess small holes, or entrances into the bacteria, therefore allowing the “crystal violet stain” through the cell wall; Gram-negative bacteria possess an extra layer on the cell wall that gives it a defensive advantage over Gram-positive bacteria and is not colored by the staining agent (Kaufman 50). Another factor to consider is whether the bacterium is aerobic, which needs oxygen to survive, or anaerobic, meaning it can live without oxygen (Kaufman 50). According to Kaufman, “organisms that require oxygen to live… are disadvantaged because oxygen is poorly soluble in water, where they are mainly found” (50). However, he further notes that some bacteria, such as E. Coli, that were once

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