How do antibiotics work, and how does antibiotic resistance evolve?

Antibiotics are an essential type of medicine used to treat and prevent bacterial infections, but their use is threatened by growing levels of antibiotic resistance.

What are the different types of antibiotics, and how do they work? Moreover, how does antibiotic resistance develop and spread?

In this article, I visualize and briefly describe these mechanisms.

By understanding them more clearly, we’ll have a better appreciation of how resistance can be a threat; why bacteria might still be susceptible to antibiotics; and how to develop new antibiotics and technologies that can avoid resistance.