Find out why antibiotics should not be overused . Prepare a short report
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Answer:
Taking antibiotics for colds and other viral illnesses not only won't work, but it can also have dangerous side effects — over time, this practice actually helps create bacteria that are harder to kill.
Frequent and inappropriate use of antibiotics can cause bacteria or other microbes to change so antibiotics don’t work against them. This is called bacterial resistance or antibiotic resistance. Treating these resistant bacteria requires higher doses of medicine or stronger antibiotics. Because of antibiotic overuse, certain bacteria have become resistant to even the most powerful antibiotics available today.
Antibiotic resistance is a widespread problem, and one that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls "one of the world's most pressing public health problems." Bacteria that were once highly responsive to antibiotics have become more and more resistant. Among those that are becoming harder to treat are pneumococcal infections (which cause pneumonia, ear infections, sinus infections, and meningitis), skin infections, and tuberculosis.
In addition to antibiotic resistance, overusing antibiotics can lead to other problems. Antibiotics kill many different bacteria, even the good ones that help keep the body healthy. Sometimes taking antibiotics can cause a person to develop diarrhea due to a lack of good bacteria that help digest food properly. In some cases, bad bacteria, like Clostridium difficile (or C diff), may overgrow and cause infections.
Answer:The invention of Antibiotics are a boon to human beings. Antibiotics are medicines that are used to treat infection caused by bacteria, by either killing the disease causing bacteria or by preventing its growth. They can only be used to treat specific kind of bacteria and are not effective against viruses.
Antibiotics are not effective in the treatment of cold or flu which are caused by virus and need different treatment. Many people though, believe otherwise. It is therefore better to consult a doctor when any infection lasts more than two days and is severe.
When we are sick and if it is due to bacterial infection, usually our immune system can fight off and destroy the infection. Especially our white blood cells help attack bad bacteria. Only when our immune system is not able kill the bacteria, we need external help like antibiotics to help eradicate the infection.
Often bacterial infections are confused with viral infections and treated with antibiotics. Most of the infections of the upper respiratory system like cold, sore throat etc. are caused by viruses and cannot be cured by antibiotics. People always believe otherwise and start self medicating. When antibiotics are over used for fighting infection, they kill good bacteria in our body along with bad bacteria which affects our immune system. Also antibiotics are often not taken fully to the extent of their prescribed course. There are also cases of inappropriate dosage and administration. This happens when the cause of the infection is not known immediately and needed some extra tests and findings.
All these factors have led to emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. The world is concerned about this phenomenon. There are lot of new infections cropping up too. Thus,
it is a cause for concern.
So it is good to follow the maxim , ' Do not use antibiotics in the first place and the second rule to follow is not to use too many of them '
Note: hope this helps.