Disc Simulation

Toss Number 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Least Resistant Bacteria (blue) 13 9 5 0 0 0 0 0 0

Activity 1.2.4 When Antibiotics Fail Simulation of Bacterial Population During Antibiotic Treatment
Resistant Bacteria (yellow) 6 7 8 9 5 0 0 0 0 Extremely Resistant Bacteria (red) 1 2 3 4 5 6 2 3 0

Hanting Guo

Total Bacteria Quantity 20 18 16 13 10 6 2 3 0

Graph of Simulation Results

Simulation of Bacterial Population During Antibiotic Treatment

Bacterial Population (discs)

25 20 15 10 5 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Least Resistant Bacteria Resistant Bacteria Extremely Resistant Bacteria Total Bacteria

Dose Number

Class Results The results from 3rd hour can be basically split into two categories: the first category is where the antibiotic treatment was successful, and there are no more surviving bacteria (from any of the 3 groups: least resistant, resistant, or extremely resistant) after the eight rounds of bacteria. This is the ideal situation that doctors and scientists have in mind when prescribing/ developing the antibiotic. Of the 14 groups that had simulated this bacteria growth in our class, only 5 groups gained this result. Thus, we see that at least for this simulation, the success rate for the antibiotic treatment sits at only around 36%, which is definitely not a very good success rate. Patients in this simulation would have only been allowed to miss one or two medications maximum in order to reach this result. The second category is where the antibiotic treatment was not successful in killing off the bacteria, and instead, backfired in a way, since the remaining bacteria are all resistant or extremely resistant to the antibiotic, and thus more of the medication would be as effective in treating the infection. Of the 14 groups that performed this simulation, a total of 9 groups obtained this result, which makes the rate of this result at 64%. The patients in these groups missed many doses of antibiotics, thus allowing the resistant strands to grow and break the control set on by the antibiotics. Unfortunately, this reflects a very pressing problem in real life where patients forget or think they dont need to take an antibiotic dose. This, as seen in this lab, can result in a resurgence of bacteria that is now resistant to the used antibiotic, creating headaches for medical professionals. To summarize, the results for this class were very bleak, with the success rate sitting well below 50%, while some patients even ended with more bacteria population than they started with before the antibiotic treatment.