Am I At Risk of Getting Antibiotic Resistance?

Do you take antibiotics often?

Do you sometimes ask your doctor to prescribe an antibiotic even when he tells you that you don't need it?

Are you taking antibiotics differently from what your doctor prescribed?

Does it happen that you have not completed the entire course of antibiotics?

Do you sometimes forget to take an antibiotic and then stop the therapy if you feel better?

Do you take leftover antibiotics from the last time you were sick on your own initiative?

Do you share antibiotics with others (give them your medications or take theirs)?

Based on your answers you have a low risk of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria develop the ability to overpower drugs that were actually created to kill them. Despite taking antibiotics, bacteria continue to live and multiply in your body. Antibiotic resistance does not mean that your body has become resistant to the effects of a particular antibiotic, but that bacteria have found a way to resist it. Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest public health problems because 2.8 million people in the United States get an antibiotic-resistant infection every year. Antibiotic-resistant infections are severe and sometimes impossible to treat.

Based on your answers you have a moderate risk of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotics are drugs that have saved many lives. Today, however, the number of antibiotic-resistant infections is increasing. One of the reasons is the improper use of antibiotics. You must take the antibiotics exactly as your doctor ordered. Antibiotic dosing is designed to eradicate the entire bacterial population. When you take antibiotics in smaller doses or less often than prescribed, pathogenic bacteria can adapt to the presence of low doses of antibiotics and over time become completely resistant to it. Antibiotic resistance is the result of excessive and often unnecessary use of antibiotics.

Based on your answers you have a high risk of antibiotic resistance. Antibiotics are drugs used to kill bacteria and treat bacterial infections. Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria find a way to resist the effects of antibiotics and stay alive. It is believed that frequent use of antibiotics in the treatment of any kind of infections (serious, less dangerous or viral) has contributed to the development of antibiotic resistance. If you have a mild infection, do not take antibiotics unless your doctor has prescribed them. Also, never ask for antibiotics if your doctor says you don't need them. Do not borrow or share antibiotics.