Dr. McCoy is using a narrow spectrum antibiotic designed to kill a specific type

Question

Dr. McCoy is using a narrow spectrum antibiotic designed to kill a specific type of bacteria that lives in the guts of herbivorous mammals. She administers the antibiotic to one group of animals for a week and administers regular feed with no antibiotic to a control group of animals for one week. At the end of the week, she takes note of any differences in general indicators of health between the two groups. What result should Dr. McCoy expect if the bacteria is: A mutualist of the mammal? A parasite of the mammal? A commensal of the mammal? (e.g. "a decline in health, " "an improvement in health, " or "no change in health") How might you expect her results to differ if she used a broad-spectrum antibiotic on an otherwise healthy mammal (i.e. an antibiotic that targeted all of the bacteria living in the organism instead of just one type)? Explain your answer.

Explanation / Answer

Narrow spectrum antibiotics are used to kill or diminish the growth of a specified bacterium or bacteria. If Narrow spectrum antibiotics are used then

Board spectrum antibiotics have broad range to kill many types of bacteria. They will kill even useful bacteria of gut which were already presented there. So the use of such antibiotics will cause “Decline in health” for all cases.

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