I’ve long been anti-antibacterial soap. But I must confess I didn’t understand the biology behind it. Today Kitchen Stewardship posted a clear explanation.
In a population of bacteria, some will be genetically resistant to antibiotics (yes, antibacterial soap contains an antibiotic). When you use antibacterial soap, only the bacteria not resistant to the antibiotic will be killed off. Leaving the resistant bacteria, which reproduce more of the same. Over time, the population will overwhelmingly be antibiotic resistant bacteria. So it’s not that the individual bacterium become stronger, it’s that the population makeup changes.
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