Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic, penicillin, in 1927. Since then, antibiotics – drugs that fight bacterial infections – have saved millions of lives worldwide.
Although antibiotics have many beneficial effects, over-use of these medicines has created the new problem of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance is one of the world’s most critical public health concerns. Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria change in a way that reduces or eliminates the effectiveness of drugs, chemicals, or other agents designed to cure or prevent infections. The bacteria survive and continue to multiply, causing more harm.
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Over the last decade, almost every type of bacteria has become stronger and less responsive to antibiotic treatment. Bacteria and other microorganisms that cause infections are remarkably resilient and can survive drugs designed to kill them. These antibiotic-resistant bacteria can quickly spread to others, threatening the community with a new strain of infectious disease that is more difficult to treat. Currently, roughly 70 percent of bacteria that cause infections in hospitals are resistant to at least one of the drugs most commonly used to treat infections. Tuberculosis, gonorrhea, malaria, and childhood ear infections are just a few of the diseases that are becoming more difficult to treat with antibiotic drugs.
