How do bacteria actually become resistant to antibiotics?

“What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger,” originally coined by Friedrich Nietzsche in 1888, is a perfect description of how bacteria develop antibiotic resistance.

Contrary to a common belief, antibiotic resistance is not about your body becoming resistant to antibiotics.

Resistance arises when bacteria are exposed to levels of antibiotics that don’t immediately kill them. They develop defences that prevent the same antibiotic from harming them in the future, even at higher doses.