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StaphAseptic™ News
CDC urging the public to get smart about the proper use of antibiotics
October 7, 2009
By CAROLINE KLAPPER, DAILY SUN
THE VILLAGES - Known as the "miracle drug" when they first were introduced in the 19th century, antibiotics were seen as a cure-all for many diseases that often were fatal before.
While antibiotics were a miraculous cure for bacterial infections, they did not treat viral illnesses such as colds, the flu, most coughs, and sore throats not caused by strep...
According to the CDC, the danger in taking antibiotics unnecessarily is two-fold.
When an antibiotic is used inappropriately, bacteria in the body may become resistant to that medication.
Then the antibiotic-resistant bacteria can spread to others in a community, creating a new strain of a disease that now has become much more difficult to treat.
"(The bacteria) develops a tolerance to the common antibiotics we tend to prescribe, then (the antibiotics) won't work when we need it," Dr. Bayoan Martinez-Cruz, of the Family Physicians of Mulberry, explained.
One of the most common examples is the serious bacterial infection known as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aures (MRSA), which is caused by a bacteria that has become resistant to treatment by some of the more frequently used antibiotics.
"We are already seeing serious trouble," Martinez-Cruz said. "MRSA is a disease, a severe infection that was happening only in hospitals but now it's happening in the community. That is the consequence of abusing the antibiotics - MRSA became resistant to those antibiotics."
Another danger that comes from using antibiotics unnecessarily is a person's reaction to the antibiotics themselves...
This is only a portion of the original article. To read the entire article, visit TheVillagesDailySun.com
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