Every year, more than 2.8 million people in the U.S. contract an infection due to antibiotic resistance.
It leads to 35,000 deaths annually.
Antibiotic resistance is when microbes, specifically bacteria and fungi, become resistant to the drugs used to treat them.
The more antibiotics are used, the more pressure there is on microbes to develop resistance.
It’s been a rising issue over the years.
“A lot of the increase in antibiotic resistance has been due to overuse of antibiotics during COVID. Locally, we continue to see more and more antibiotic resistance. We're seeing infections more commonly that, in the past, were rare,” said Tristan O'Driscoll is the Infectious Diseases Pharmacist and System Antimicrobial Stewardship Coordinator at Aspirus Health.
This poses a significant threat to public health by making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of spreading resistant strains.
O’Driscoll advocates for a cautious and precise approach to antibiotic usage to avoid unnecessary complications.
“One of the things we like to focus on is that while antibiotics are miracle drugs, and when we need them, they're going to treat that infection and help you to get better. If we use them when they're not needed, we're increasing collateral damage and exposure of these drugs to those microbes that are on in your body. And that resistance can spread becomes harder to treat. And this is an arms race for us and we're losing it,” said O’Driscoll.
O’Driscoll says it’s important to stay up to date on vaccinations and practice good hygiene.
These things can help prevent infections.
Fewer infections mean fewer chances for microbes to become antibiotic resistance.
