The Growing Global Threat Of Antibiotic Resistance Ielts Reading Answers Top Work Jun 2026

Complete the summary below using words from the box.

Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 3? Write .

Alexander Fleming discovered by chance in 1928, marking the start of the golden age of medicine.

The growing global threat of antibiotic resistance is a multifaceted problem requiring immediate international cooperation. As highlighted in many IELTS reading passages, understanding the intersection of human behavior, agricultural practice, and bacterial evolution is crucial for navigating this, and similar, complex scientific topics. Complete the summary below using words from the box

Why do pharmaceutical companies avoid developing new antibiotics? A) They are too difficult to manufacture. B) Governments do not allow testing. C) Short treatment courses and resistance reduce profit. D) Existing antibiotics are fully effective.

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The underlying mechanism of antibiotic resistance is a classic demonstration of Darwinian natural selection. When an antimicrobial agent attacks a bacterial population, the majority of susceptible organisms are eradicated. However, due to random genetic mutations, a tiny fraction of the population may possess traits that allow them to survive the onslaught. Freed from competition for resources, these resilient survivors replicate exponentially, passing their resistant genetic blueprints to their progeny. More alarmingly, bacteria can exchange genetic material laterally. Through horizontal gene transfer, non-resistant bacteria can acquire resistance genes directly from completely different species via mechanisms like conjugation and transformation. This genetic fluidity turns hospital wards and agricultural facilities into highly efficient breeding grounds for "superbugs." Alexander Fleming discovered by chance in 1928, marking

Examples of specific diagnostic shortcomings that lead to unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions. Questions 7–10

The "The Growing Global Threat of Antibiotic Resistance" is a common IELTS Academic Reading passage that explores the rise of superbugs and the factors accelerating this crisis.

The rise of antibiotic resistance is driven by human actions. In human medicine, antibiotics are often prescribed for (6) ____________________, and patients sometimes fail to complete the full course, allowing resistant bacteria to thrive. In agriculture, antibiotics are widely used in (7) ____________________ and aquaculture to promote growth in overcrowded conditions. The result is that common infections are becoming harder to treat, and doctors may need to use (8) ____________________ drugs that are more toxic. The WHO has declared AMR one of the top ten global public health threats, and without action, annual deaths could reach (9) ____________________ by 2050. and expensive alternative treatments.

While human medical misuse is highly problematic, the agricultural sector presents an even larger volume of concern. Globally, more antibiotics are consumed by livestock than by humans. In intensive farming operations, animals are routinely fed subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics, not to treat active illnesses, but to promote rapid physical growth and prevent disease outbreaks in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions. This chronic exposure ensures that livestock intestines become vast reservoirs of resistant bacteria. These pathogens eventually contaminate the human food chain through direct contact, meat consumption, or agricultural runoff leaking into local water tables and crop fields.

As a result of this dual pressure from medicine and agriculture, standard treatments are failing. Diseases that were once easily managed are becoming lethal again. For example, strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis have evolved into Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) and Extensively Drug-Resistant (XDR) forms, requiring toxic, lengthy, and expensive alternative treatments. In hospitals, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) pose lethal threats to patients recovering from minor procedures. Paragraph F