The Growing Global Threat Of Antibiotic Resistance Ielts Reading Answers Verified __full__ Official

However, the problem extends beyond human healthcare. A significant volume of the world's antibiotics is utilized in agriculture and aquaculture. In many nations, antibiotics are routinely added to livestock feed not to treat sickness, but to promote growth and prevent disease in crowded conditions. This sub-therapeutic dosing creates a perfect breeding ground for resistant bacteria, which can then enter the human food chain through meat consumption or environmental runoff.

International efforts are underway. The Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance, endorsed by WHO member states, calls for better surveillance, prudent use of antibiotics, and investment in new drugs. However, the pipeline for novel antibiotics remains dangerously thin. Since 1987, only a few new classes of antibiotics have been discovered, as pharmaceutical companies find them less profitable than chronic disease medications.

antibiotic-resistant

Familiarize yourself with key terms that frequently appear in IELTS reading passages about antibiotic resistance: However, the problem extends beyond human healthcare

Worldwide, vast quantities of critically important antibiotics are administered to healthy livestock to promote growth and prevent infections in crowded farming environments. These drugs enter the human food chain and local water supplies.

The problem is now considered so acute that 193 countries of the United Nations have signed a pledge to stamp out drug-resistant infection and report back with an action plan within the next two years.

Paragraph B details the mechanics of bacterial adaptation. It specifies that bacteria can "exchange resistance genes horizontally across different species via plasmids." 2. Answer: C When first-line antibiotics fail

Explanation: In Paragraph E, Linda McCaig notes that "there are a number of immunocompromised patients who wouldn't have survived in earlier times. Radical procedures produce patients who are in difficult shape in the hospital, and there is routine use of antibiotics to prevent infection in these patients." This directly supports the statement that antibiotics are used preventively..

| Question No. | Answer | Question No. | Answer | |--------------|--------|--------------|--------| | 15. | LM | 22. | D | | 16. | PK | 23. | C | | 17. | MB | 24. | F | | 18. | MB | 25. | A | | 19. | JC | 26. | E | | 20. | BM | 27. | B | | 21. | LM | | |

Explanation: Paragraph B describes complacency in the 1980s, resistance increasing due to overuse, and reaching a point where some infections have no available agents. This traces the historical evolution of the resistance problem. which are frequently more expensive

The socioeconomic consequences of this crisis are profound and multi-layered. When first-line antibiotics fail, medical professionals must resort to second- or third-line therapies, which are frequently more expensive, highly toxic, and less accessible. This shift drastically increases the duration of hospital stays and places an immense financial burden on public healthcare infrastructure. Furthermore, advanced medical interventions that society takes for granted—such as complex surgeries, organ transplants, cancer chemotherapies, and neonatal care—rely fundamentally on prophylactic antibiotics. Without them, the risk of lethal post-operative infections would render these essential procedures too hazardous to perform. Paragraph F

: Paragraph A opens with historical context: "The discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928 marked the dawn of the antibiotic era..."