Recently, CNN released a news "People in the United States are misusing antibiotics, study says". Antibiotic abuse is not only in the United States, but also a serious problem facing the whole world. The danger of overuse of antibiotics is to accelerate the spread of resistant bacteria.

Antibiotics also play a role in screening resistant bacteria while killing bacteria. With mutations, a small number of bacteria produce new resistance genes, which survive under the pressure of antibiotics and continue to multiply. Over time, more and more resistant bacteria will cause the antibiotics to lose their therapeutic effect. If too much antibiotics are used in unnecessary places, it will increase the chances of bacteria in the environment coming into contact with antibiotics, thus accelerating resistant bacteria.

antibiotic abuse

Now, bacterial resistance has been very serious. Bacteria have a high rate of resistance to the widespread use of antibiotics. In the past, people developed new antibiotics to solve the problem of drug resistance, but now the speed of developing new antibiotics is far behind the pace of bacterial resistance. Therefore, it is necessary to slow down the spread of drug-resistant bacteria by controlling the use of antibiotics. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls it "one of the world's most pressing public health issues."

What can we do?

Rational use of antibiotics is a complex subject that requires professionals to make comprehensive choices based on comprehensive knowledge of bacterial resistance data, drug characteristics, infection risk assessment, and disease characteristics. However, as non-professionals, keep in mind the following to help reduce antibiotic abuse:

  •  Do not decide whether to take the medicine yourself. Antibiotics are prescription drugs and they should be used at the discretion of the doctor.
  •  Do not stop or cut the amount of pill/ capsules yourself. The amount of Antibiotics is not the less the better, and sometimes insufficient amounts are more likely to cause resistance.
  •  Maintain good hygiene practices and avoid bacterial infections that require antibiotic treatment.
  •  Do not take antibiotics from other people.