Antibiotics don’t work for everything

Resistance to antibiotics presents a very real and significant threat to modern healthcare. People can make a positive contribution to reducing antibiotic resistance in our community by becoming aware of resistance.

Antibiotics are no longer routinely used to treat infections because:

  • Many infections are caused by viruses, so antibiotics are not effective 

  • Antibiotics are often unlikely to speed up the healing process and can cause side effects

  • The more antibiotics are used to treat trivial conditions, the more likely they are to become ineffective for treating more serious conditions 

Both the NHS and health organisations across the world are trying to reduce the use of antibiotics, especially for health problems that are not serious. 

For example, antibiotics are no longer routinely used to treat:

Optimising the use of antimicrobials in human is a key element of the UK’s strategy to tackle antimicrobial resistance.