Why Do Antibiotics Kill Bacterial Infections?

Bacterial infections, which are common today, used to kill those who were infected. Bonnie Bassler, a professor at Princeton University, states that “our quality of life and our longevity improved enormously” (Bassler, n.d.) after the mass production of Antibiotics began. Antibiotics are a category of medication made from bacteria; these medications are designed to eliminate bacterial infections. The prolonged use of antibiotics is hazardous for the human body and could have negative long-term effects. The long-term usage of antibiotics can cause antibiotic resistance. As nature has proven time and time again; all life on earth has the ability to adapt to changes in their environment. Bacteria are no exception to this rule. Matthew Levison, an infectious disease specialist with 49 years of experience, says: “Bacteria, like all living organisms, change over time in response to environmental challenges” (Levison, n.d.). Over the past decade certain strains of bacteria have become immune or resistant to commonly used antibiotics. Certain …show more content…
All across the globe, doctors are prescribing antibiotics every second of the day; with such large numbers there is always room for error. Within this margin for error a patient could ingest antibiotics unnecessarily. It is estimated that “20 percent to 50 percent” (Hooton & Levy, 2001) of antibiotics prescribed are completely unnecessary for the patient’s treatment. The misuse of the antibiotics increases the risk of a strain of bacteria becoming resistant. Bacterium receive more exposure due to the increase in prescribed antibiotics; this forces the bacteria to either adapt or die, and most often the bacteria adapts. Once a strain of bacteria becomes resistant to an antibiotic, another antibiotic must be prescribed in order to eliminate the infection. Starting a vicious cycle of bacteria becoming more and more