Global Threat Of Antibiotic Resistance Ielts Reading Answers Verified 鈥� The Growing

During the 1980s, a dangerous complacency settled over the medical establishment. The perception was that the bacterial infection problem had been solved. Drug companies consequently stopped working on new antibacterial agents, concentrating instead on other areas such as viral infections. As Dr Michael Blum of the FDA explains: 鈥淚n the meantime, resistance increased to a number of commonly used antibiotics, possibly related to overuse. In the 1990s, we鈥檝e come to a point for certain infections that we don鈥檛 have agents available.鈥�

Explanation: The text notes that resistant infections claim over one million lives now, but could rise to 10 million by 2050, "overtaking cancer as a leading cause of mortality." This directly implies cancer currently kills more. During the 1980s, a dangerous complacency settled over

Bacteria like MRSA ( Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ) and MDR-TB ( Multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis ) are now common, making standard treatments fail. As Dr Michael Blum of the FDA explains:

To correctly answer IELTS Reading questions, one must first understand the terminology. Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria change in response to the use of these medicines. They become "superbugs" 鈥� bacteria that no longer respond to the drugs designed to kill them. To correctly answer IELTS Reading questions, one must

Today, we face a critical gap. Pharmaceutical companies often prioritize profitable chronic condition drugs over one-time-use antibiotics, leading to a cessation of research into new bacterial combatants.

Once resistance genes are acquired, bacteria can deploy various defence strategies: blocking drug entry into the cell, pumping the drug back out, producing enzymes that destroy the antibiotic, or modifying the drug鈥檚 target so it no longer binds effectively. This biological arms race is driven by misuse and overuse of antibiotics across human medicine, agriculture and veterinary practice.

Based on common IELTS Reading passages concerning this theme, here are crucial answers and terminology: