Question

The antibiotic ciprofloxacin often is prescribed for serious cases of food poisoning caused by the bacterium Campylobacter jejuni, which is common in the intestines of farm animals and is not harmful to them, but may cause acute food poisoning in humans. Which of the following is correct given prolonged use of this antibiotic?

(A) Prior to antibiotic treatment, most Campylobacter are ciprofloxacin-resistant.
(B) Ciprofloxacin treatment kills or halts the growth of the sensitive strains, yet the resistant strains survive.
(C) Repeating the treatment of the same patient or a population multiple times results in a strain of Campylobacter that is more susceptible to the antibiotic.
(D) Treatment with ciprofloxacin causes the patient to evolve resistance such that the next time the patient gets an infection, it will no longer be effective.

Answer 1

(B) Ciprofloxacin treatment kills or halts the growth of the sensitive strains, yet the resistant strains survive.

Step-by-step explanation:

Campylobacter jejuni is the causal agent of the food-borne infection with the highest incidence in Europe. Both poultry and wild birds are a major reservoir of the bacteria, the bacteria lives in the intestines of warm blooded animals but is only quite harmful to humans. It has been identified that the diversity fo genes is responsible for its resistance to antibiotics.