Antibiotics – curse or blessing?

Antibiotics are a miracle cure, they can kill bacterial pathogens in a targeted manner and thus fight infections quickly. However, for some years now, more and more resistant and multi-resistant germs have been emerging.

This is why every year on 18 November, people are reminded to use antibiotics responsibly. This is because 700,000 people worldwide die every year from infections with resistant pathogens – antibiotic resistance has long been a global problem and requires efficient countermeasures.

Bacteria can be insensitive to certain antibiotics due to their structure or become resistant due to mutations. The respective drugs then loose their effectiveness and the infections can only be treated with reserve antibiotics or not at all. This favours the spread of diseases and serious illnesses become more frequent.

The process of bacterial mutation with the development of resistance is natural, but it is strongly promoted by the frequent and unindicated use of these drugs in human medicine (antibiotics work against bacteria, not viruses). Inadequate hygiene allows resistant pathogens to multiply and spread. Antibiotics are also used in large quantities in animal husbandry.

Antibiotics must be used appropriately to prevent the development of new resistances. The start and duration of treatment, as well as the dosage and the respective active ingredient, must be tailored to the patient and the pathogen. Hygiene measures can prevent infections in general as well as the spread of resistant bacteria. Everyone can therefore play their part in containing resistant bacteria with vaccinations and good hand hygiene. Help us too, because we can only win the fight together!