Antibiotic Resistance
The introduction of antibiotics after the 1940's resulted a revolution in medicine and treatment of bacterial infections. Many of prior widespread and frequently lethal diseases virtually disappeared only because of wide use of antibiotics. However, over the years the majority of bacteria became resistant against some antibiotics because of excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics. For that reason the experts warn against prescribing and using antibiotics unless it is really necessary.
If in some parts of the world (especially in Subsaharan Africa) millions of people are still dying from bacterial infections and diseases which in developed countries practically do not exist anymore. However, developed countries are faced with danger of antibiotic resistance of bacteria. According to the researches the problem of antibiotic resistance of bacteria lays in professional medical practitioners who prescribe antibiotics even in cases when treatment with antibiotics is not necessary but great part of responsibility also carry the patients who often do not follow the directions of use or cease with antibiotic treatment as soon as they are starting to feel better. If antibiotics are prescribed for conditions they should not be antibiotic treatment does not have any effect on symptoms of the disease that is not bacterial infection, while antibiotic destroys bacteria which would otherwise compete with resistant species. However, if the patient stops antibiotic treatment before they should the antibiotic does not have enough time to destroy all bacteria and those that remain will probably develop fully resistant colony. This in practice means that the same antibiotic treatment will eventually have no effect on bacteria and consequently on the disease and its symptoms.
Another source of antibiotic resistance of bacteria is also use of antibiotics in agriculture and especially in animal feed to promote growth. Scientific researches have shown that misuse of antibiotics in animal feed led to genetic mutations of some bacteria that have been passed to consumers with animal products which do not respond to commonly prescribed antibiotics. Improper disposal of unused antibiotics is also believed to be one of causes of increasing antibiotic resistant bacteria.