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Illnesses due to antibiotic resistant microbes are a worrying problem in our hospitals and communities. This section explores the use of antibiotics and medicine in treating various illnesses and infectious disease.
In this practical activity acids and bases in agar plates are used to represent bacteria and antibiotics. As groups, students test a range of antibiotics (alkaline solutions) on bacteria (acid and indicator in agar) cultured from patient samples and determine which illness the patients have from a list provided.
The extension activity encourages students to research relevant ‘hot topics’ related to antibiotic use today.