Antibiotics are medicines used to fight bacterial infections. Properly used, they serve to cure and save lives, but we\u2019re coming across problems with resistance on an everyday basis. Every time we take an antibiotic, there is a risk of the bacteria becoming resistant and this is progressive and unstoppable.<\/p>\n
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But what exactly is antibiotic resistance? It occurs when bacteria mutate in response to the use of these drugs. So humans or animals aren’t becoming resistant to antibiotics, the bacteria are. This can be traced back to mutations in chromosomes and the transmission of genetic material from other bacteria.<\/p>\n
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Prevention, the key to alleviating the problem<\/strong><\/p>\n As always in medicine, we have to turn to prevention to try and correct the problem. We need to pay particular attention to the medicine \u2013 antibiotic \u2013 to make the most of its therapeutic action and minimise the risks and side effects of its formulation and the way it acts. Antibiotics should only be prescribed when necessary, in line with current guidelines, and antibiotic\u2011resistant infections should be notified.<\/strong><\/p>\n For normal use and when this drug has been prescribed by a doctor, certain measures must be taken:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We must change the way we prescribe and use antibiotics and take steps to reduce infection transmission<\/strong>, with measures like vaccines and good personal hygiene (hand washing, safe sexual relations to prevent STDs – sexually transmitted diseases, food hygiene, etc.).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n