Antibiotic Resistance (cont.)
Prevention of antimicrobial drug resistance
To prevent antimicrobial resistance, you and your healthcare provider should
discuss the appropriate medication for your illness and avoid overusing or
misusing medicines. Strictly follow prescription medication directions and never
share or take medicine that was prescribed for someone else. Communicate
effectively with your healthcare provider, so that he or she has a clear
understanding of your symptoms and can determine whether an antimicrobial drug,
such as an antibiotic, is appropriate. Do not save your antibiotic for the next
time you get sick; take all of the medication as prescribed by your healthcare
provider. If the healthcare provider has prescribed more than the required dose,
discard leftover medications once you have completed the prescribed course of
treatment. Do not share your medication with another person.
Healthy lifestyle habits always go far in preventing illness, including
proper diet, exercise, sleeping patterns, and good hygiene, such as frequent
hand washing.
Antimicrobial resistance: A growing health issue
The emergence of drug-resistant microbes is not new or unexpected. Both
natural causes and societal pressures drive bacteria, viruses, parasites, and
other microbes to continually change in an effort to evade the drugs developed
to kill them.
Natural causes
Like all organisms, microbes undergo random genetic
mutations, and these changes can enhance drug resistance. Resistance to a drug
arising by chance in just a few organisms can quickly spread through rapid
reproduction to entire
populations of a microbe.
Societal pressures
Antimicrobial resistance is fostered by the overuse and misuse of
antimicrobial drugs in people as well as animals; a lack of diagnostic tests to
rapidly identify infectious agents; and poor hand hygiene and infection control
in healthcare and community settings.
Together, these forces contribute to the problem of drug-resistant infections
that are increasingly difficult and costly to treat.
Next: Drug-resistant microbes of concern today »
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