Resistance mechanisms

Resistance mechanisms are ways in which bacteria, viruses, or cancer cells adapt to survive despite treatments like antibiotics, antivirals, or chemotherapy. They develop these defenses by changing their structure, producing enzymes that break down medicines, or mutating their genes. These changes prevent the drugs from effectively targeting them, making treatments less effective or useless over time. Essentially, resistant organisms learn to evade or withstand medical interventions, which can make infections harder to treat and require different strategies to control them.