How effective are antibiotics against germs?
There are many different kinds of antibiotics used to kill bacteria and fight infection. But in recent years the antibiotic resistance of bacteria that cause infections in children has become a major problem. In other words, some medicines that used to kill certain germs don’t work anymore. Consequently, many infections cannot be treated with traditional antibiotics and new (and often more expensive) drugs must be used. Why have bacteria become resistant to antibiotics? There are many reasons why bacteria develop a resistance to antibiotics, including inappropriate use of medicines. Antibiotics may kill some, but not all bacteria. And when antibiotics are used for the wrong reason or for an incorrect length of time, more bacteria resistant to that antibiotic may be produced. Say a child with a cold is infected with a virus, for which there is no effective antibiotic. But say antibiotics are incorrectly prescribed for the cold. Using these antibiotics does not cure the infection but can
