Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria are bacteria that are unsusceptible to antibiotic drugs or compounds that were originally effective in treatment of infections. Bacteria have evolved to resist the antibiotics originally meant to treat them, and this is a grave problem for public health in all parts of the world.

The overuse and taking-for-granted of antibiotics has led to this problem. Antibiotics are overused in farming, food products, aquacultures, and in human healthcare.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are much more deadly (40-50% mortality for Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae [1]) and much more burdensome to the health system ($20 billion in direct healthcare costs in the United States, 2008 [2])

By educating ourselves, we can all take the proper action to safeguard the antibiotics we can still use and prevent the spread of bacteria we cannot treat.