Why is cooking still an effective way of eliminating human pathogens or fermentation or salting? These methods do not eliminate all traces of the bacteria so what is keeping a random mutation from happening that allows, say, e. Coli in beef to become resistant to heat up to 60c or Listeria to resist salt concentrations to the same levels as bacteria which are not infectious and potential beneficial to us that can tolerate?
What is it about antibiotics that makes them so susceptible to creating these random mutations that antibiotics become near obsolete in decades?
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The main difference is that antibiotics (usually) work through more complex chemical reactions, while the stuff the bacteria don’t get resistance to are very simple.
On an ELI5 level: Humans can train their bodies to be stronger and fight other humans and animals better . But you can’t train against being crushed by a 16 ton boulder.
As a more accurate example, lack of resistance against heat: Heat is just energy, and the only way to “resist” it is insulation. But insulation usually needs to be thick to be efficient, so bacteria can’t do that. And if a bacteria gets heated up, let’s say to 110°C, then the water inside will boil and blow up the bacteria.
On the other hand, antibiotics like penicillin use complex chemical reactions to kill the bacteria/prevent them from multiplying. Therefore by slightly altering their structure the bacteria may change so that penicillin can no longer undergo this chemical reaction with them, giving immunity.
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