The importance of antibiotics

Antibiotics are essential for modern healthcare as they are used to:-

• Treat chronic diseases like diabetes, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis.
• Treat serious bacterial infections, such as pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis
• Prevent infections during surgery e.g. joint replacement, organ transplants, chemotherapy, caesarean sections and dental work.

BUT:

Use of antibiotics encourages harmful bacteria that live inside the body to become resistant which means that the antibiotics may not work when you really need them. The UK Health Security Agency states that:

• There were an estimated 66,730 serious antibiotic-resitant infections in the UK in 2023
• By 2050 there could be an additional 39 million deaths from antimicrobial resistance

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