Understanding Antibiotic Resistance: The Hidden Threat to Your Health 🦠

Antibiotic resistance is considered “one of the biggest threats to human health”. Inappropriate prescribing and patients not taking the drugs as instructed means bacterial infections that are considered almost harmless may one day be deadly. In 2015, antibiotic use had increased by 6.5% over the past four years in England alone. Antibiotics are unusual in that the more they are used, the less effective they become, as bacteria rapidly evolve resistance to the drugs that are trying to destroy them. Perhaps the most famous example is MRSA – methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Around one in 30 people have the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus living harmlessly on their skin. The bacteria can cause life-threatening complications if they enter the body, however. Once an effective drug, the antibiotic methicillin is now useless against Staphylococcus aureus, a trend that may continue for other medications. In the US alone, MRSA is said to kill more people every year than Aids, Parkinson’s disease, emphysema and murder combined.