UC Merced Undergraduate Research Journal

The repercussions of antibiotic resistance in humans give scientists a vivid picture of the effectsof microbial evolution. These repercussions can be felt economically and scientifically as thedemand for stronger antibiotics grows stronger, yet the availability for such an effect remainslow. Citizens must pay more money in order to access antibiotics from their healthcareproviders; however, if treatment is not completed, bacteria become increasingly immune toantibiotics, closing off pathways to new antibiotics that are able to combat the bacterialimmunity. Antibiotic resistance can stem from other areas aside from a doctor’s office, wherethey are used not only for treating bacterial infections, but antibiotics that are utilized also to killbacteria in agriculture and in animal husbandry, which remnants fall into the hands of theconsumer when they consume the animal product. This review therefore looks at severalmechanisms of such resistance transfer as well as alternatives to antibiotics to decrease theamount of antibiotic resistance in humans.