Antibiotics are becoming less effective
Doctors warn patients not to jump so quickly to ask for an antibiotic. With a bacterial infection, a portion of the bacteria might be resistant to the antibiotic. Then, that portion can multiply and mutate, and perhaps be tough to kill off.
Doctors say that’s in part because any time we use an antibiotic, it puts pressure on a bacteria to develop resistance. And, with the continued use of antibiotics in society, whether it’s in medicine form, or in the foods that we eat such as livestock where antibiotics are often used in the animals, there is more and more pressure to develop that resistance.
“If bacteria develops resistance to an antibiotic then it may not work to treat an infection that may be caused by that bacteria that’s resistant.” One bacterial infection about which most of us have heard is MRSA. It’s often found in locker rooms and can spread quickly through schools and can be deadly.
Doctors say patients and parents should be very conservative in when they use antibiotics. Once you are exposed to a certain one, your body is more likely to develop that resistance. Scientists and some pharmaceutical companies are developing new antibiotics, but not very quickly.
Doctors say it is very difficult to develop an antibiotic that is effective and also doesn’t have horrible side effects.