Question

simulating a bacterial infection investigation
simulating a bacterial infection investigation
introduction:
most bacteria living in, on, and around us do not make us sick, but some do. doctors usually prescribe antibiotics, a medicine that kills bacteria, if someone is diagnosed with a harmful bacterial infection. if you have had a bacterial infection, and your doctor prescribed antibiotics, you may have noticed that the directions on the bottle tell you that you must take all of the medicine, every day, until it is gone. why?
research question:
what happens if you dont take your antibiotic prescription for the entire duration?
predict:
like all organisms, bacteria have variation in their traits. one type of variation is their ability to resist antibiotics. imagine a population of bacteria that are infecting a host person: some individuals have resistance to antibiotics, some individuals have some resistance, and some individuals are very susceptible. if a person does not take their prescribed antibiotics, predict how each of these types of bacteria will respond over the first 8 days of the infection.
draw a graph below to demonstrate your ideas. the graph should represent what might happen to three populations of bacteria over approximately 8 days if they reside inside of a person that starts taking medication, but after a few days stops taking it. be sure to include a title and label each axis in your graph.
graph with days on x - axis (1 - 9) and bacteria populations on y - axis (100 - 800) with some plotted points
biology unit 2 - humans vs. bacteria - adapted and modified by z. demhasaj &

Explanation:

The problem is about bacterial infection and antibiotic resistance, which falls under Biology (Natural Science subfield). The graph models population changes: when antibiotics are taken then stopped, susceptible bacteria (low resistance) die off, some - resistant drop then recover as antibiotics stop, and highly resistant thrive as they survive the antibiotic exposure and then reproduce. The x - axis is "Days" (1 - 9), y - axis is "Bacteria Population". The three lines likely correspond to high resistance (stable/high), some resistance (dip then rise), and low resistance (dip then low) bacteria populations over the 8 - day (plus day 9) period.

Answer:

The graph shows three lines representing different bacterial populations over days. For the highly resistant bacteria (e.g., the line around 800), it would stay high or increase; for some resistance (e.g., around 700 initially), it drops then rises; for very susceptible, it drops and stays low.