Replies

Once the selective pressure was removed the antibiotic resistance was removed? Wow.

So now there is no sulfa drug resistance extant within living bacterial populations?

So much for that resistance always being in the “genetic base” of the bacteria.

It seems that if a bacteria wanted to get resistance to sulfa drugs that were reintroduced it would have to MUTATE its DNA. No?

Do you think that, given the disappearance of resistance to sulfa drugs over the past 40 years, that new resistant strains would not develop as soon as the sulfa drugs were reintroduced?

How would these new resistant strains develop this new resistance other than through mutation of its DNA?

Oh, but DNA is there to PREVENT evolution! I keep forgetting! LOL!!!

"So now there is no sulfa drug resistance extant within living bacterial populations?"

Is your reading comprehension really that low?

Or are you just that ignorant of history?

Or both?

"Do you think that, given the disappearance of resistance to sulfa drugs over the past 40 years, that new resistant strains would not develop as soon as the sulfa drugs were reintroduced?"

I see that you do not understand the concept of demographics. Some are resistant because the resistance is "on" in their genes, while others are not resistant because resistance is "off." The distribution of "on" and "off" sub populations can flow either way, depending on the use or disuse of the toxin, but the species retains the capacity for both conditions.