Antibiotic resistance — what is it and why is it a problem? The
development of antibiotics was one of the most important
advances of medicine. Many bacterial infections (e.g.
tuberculosis and infected wounds) that had previously had no
effective treatment and often killed people, became treatable
with antibiotics, saving millions of lives. Now, because of the
overuse and misuse of antibiotics, bacterial infections that
were once easily cured with antibiotics are becoming harder to
treat. This is due to antibiotic resistance. The World Health
Organization has called this one of the biggest threats to human
health today. What is antibiotic resistance? Antibiotic
resistance happens when bacteria change to protect themselves
from an antibiotic. They are then no longer sensitive to that
antibiotic. When this happens, antibiotics that previously would
have killed the bacteria, or stopped them from multiplying, no
longer work. What are ‘superbugs’? ‘Superbugs’ are bacteria that
are resistant to several different ant