3 ms·
The mode of action is not relevant. Look at the antibiotics and how they all work. They have different modes of action and the resitance mechanisms are quite va
by pierrefar 16y ago
The mode of action is not relevant. Look at the antibiotics and how they all work. They have different modes of action and the resitance mechanisms are quite varied too.
So however acetaminophen works, you can imagine a resistance mechanism.
- patrickgzill 16y agoActually I don't exactly understand your reasoning on this. Given that the method of delivery is all-or-nothing and nearly immediate, I don't see how a resistance could be developed. We are not discussing e.g. XDR-resistant TB, where the levels of delivery of antibiotics to the TB mean that some of the bacteria die and some live. The snake is a single organism in this case, and the liver metabolizes the drug, and the results of that metabolism are what cause the liver damage. As long as 80mg is enough to kill the largest snake that would swallow the bait. Can you explain how a lethal dose of say, cyanide, delivered individually to humans, would eventually result in cyanide-resistant humans?
- pierrefar 16y agoTake the snake example: imagine the dose delivered is ingested by most (if not all) the population. Now imagine that some snakes have a mutation that render this dose non-lethal, either making it completely harmless or just sub-lethal. The snakes carrying the mutation would survive. The key part here (and in evolutionary theory) is that there is a pre-existing mutation to select for. If there isn't one, then we should see a local extinction.
- patrickgzill 16y agoRight, however, I find it vanishingly small in terms of probabilities that the combination of (liver metabolism mutation concerning this drug) and (snake still able to reproduce) exists.