Antibiotics are a medical miracle. They seem so routine now, but antibiotics are what make many of the things we take for granted possible. Even the simplest surgery could be fatal without them, since the risks of infection would be so high. Less than 100 years ago, catching pneumonia constituted a death sentence. My grandfather died of it at the age of 40. My mother, as a young girl, was saved just in time by one of the first antibiotics available, a sulfa drug.
Today, we face a new problem: antibiotic-resistant bacteria, also called ‘Superbugs.’ The overuse of common antibiotics has led to some bacteria becoming immune to the very drugs we use to kill them. Around the world, scientists and doctors are working hard to create new antibiotics, but it takes a long time to develop them. A study found that FDA approvals of new antibacterial agents declined 56% over the past twenty years. Development of these drugs is expensive, and they have never been more needed.
Already, we have seen outbreaks of diseases caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria. In 2017, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified 221 instances of “unusual” antibiotic-resistance genes in bacteria that cause illnesses at health care facilities across the U.S. Every year, around 2 million U.S. patients are infected by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and around 23,000 of them die. That happens now, not in some distant future, and the situation is only projected to get worse.
Fortunately, there’s a simple step that everyone can take to help slow the spread of antibiotic-resistance bacteria. If your doctor prescribes you an antibiotic, it’s important to finish the entire cycle, even if you start feeling better before you’ve taken all of the medication. The antibiotics kill the weakest bacteria first, while it takes longer to kill the stronger or more drug-resistant bacteria. Often, your body will still contain some of this harmful bacteria even after you start feeling better. Stopping the medication too early allows these few remaining bacteria to replicate again, spreading their resistance to the antibiotic your doctor prescribed to treat them. In addition, doctors should prescribe antibiotics only when it’s absolutely necessary. Too often, patients expect to be prescribed antibiotics to treat viral infections for which the treatment is ineffective.
