Bacterial Resistance to Antibacterial Agents

This topic submitted by Eli Balkin, Michael Domek, Michael Durisen, Alejandra Miller, Shirley Wang (balkinea@muohio.edu) at 11:27 PM on 12/8/02. Additions were last made on Monday, November 21, 2005. Section: Cummins

Natural Systems 1 Fall, 2002 -Interdisciplinary Studies-Miami University

Bacterial Resistance to Antibacterial Agents

A Research Project

Eli Balkin, Michael Domek, Michael Durisen, Alejandra Miller, Shirley Wang
To see the final version of our project go to this website-- Bacterial Resistance to Antibacterial Agents. Enjoy!

Abstract

As the first documented life to appear on earth, bacteria play a key role in the process of evolution. They are the oldest, the simplest, and contain numerous forms of life. A vast number of bacteria live in our bodies, performing a number of different functions. Some of these bacteria help us with digestion and the production of vitamins, others can harm us by causing illnesses. While we have immune systems that help us combat diseases, humans have also created artificial anti-bacterial agents to help us kill bacteria in their external environment.

When purchasing anti-bacterial agents there is the choice between a name brand and a generic brand. In the vast array of anti-bacterial agents, there are those that are offered and advertised from big companies, or name brands. There are also those anti-bacterial agents that claim to perform the same job, except they lack the fancy labels and marketing techniques, better known as generic brands. It was our desire to find out if the more expensive name brand is more effective in killing bacteria. Ultimately, this experiment is based on the question, which type of anti-bacterial agent kills bacteria better, the name brand or the generic brand.

Upon conducting our research, we have hypothesized that the name brands will kill the bacteria faster and more effectively than the generic brands. According to how thorough and how fast the anti-bacterial agents work, we believe that there will be a noticeable advantage to the use of name brand products. The experiment hopes to show a significant difference between the killing effects of each brand of anti-bacterial solutions. By the end of our experiment and research, we hope to have developed a better understanding of bacteria and the way anti-bacterial agents work.

Please visit our reseach team's web site for a complete report of our findings.

The URL is: http://marineecology.wcp.muohio.edu/ns1fall02/cummins/morning/resistance/Web/index.html

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