We all know antibiotics very often save our lives. Antibiotics destroy nasty bacteria that causes serious infections, including strep, pneumonia, etc. Antibiotics, however, are not effective on viruses.
Some may ask "What is antibiotic resistance?" This occurs when infection-causing bacteria no longer respond to antibiotics. A few diseases we know are already becoming antibiotic resistant. MRSA and tuberculosis are some examples. More than 35,000 persons in the United States die annually due to this. Robin Patel, MD, director of the Infectious Diseases Research Lab at the Mayo Clinic put it this way, "We are facing a crisis."
There are ways to protect yourself and your family from antibiotic resistance as shown below:
- Only take antibiotics when necessary (and do take them when they are necessary!). Don't insist on asking your doctor to prescribe antibiotics when they aren't necessary. As stated above, they are not effective on viruses, as an example.
- Skip the overuse of antibacterial soaps, body washes, cleaners. Regular soap and water along with alcohol hand gels are just as effective. Add a little bleach to cleaners if you need to kill germs. This is effective in the kitchen and bathroom.
- Buy meats and poultry which are labeled "organic" or "raised without antibiotics". Much of the feed our poultry and animals are fed contains antibiotics which can be transferred to humans.
Most of us will probably never face an antibiotic resistant disease. But they are out there, and it may become a serious problem for some of us.
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