antibiotic overuse
Resistance-breeding prescribing pattern
Antibiotic overuse is the excessive or unnecessary prescription and consumption of antibiotics, which accelerates the development of drug-resistant bacteria.
The problem encompasses both medical overprescription—antibiotics given for viral infections they can't treat—and agricultural use in livestock.
Antibiotic overuse has created superbugs that don't respond to standard treatments.
- resistanceCapacity to withstand force
- superbugTreatment-resistant pathogen
- bacteriaNucleus-free single-celled organisms
- infectionPathogen invasion causing illness
- prescriptionMedical dispensing authorization
just in case · common cold · hospital · MRSA · immunity · mutation · penicillin · wonder drug · last resort · farming · livestock · factory farm · CDC · public health · sepsis · broad spectrum · gut · microbiome
- overuseoverconsumption, overexploitation, excess, waste, abuse
- Science Debatesclimate change, global warming, evolution debate, vaccine safety, creationism
- Drug Resistancedrug resistance, MRSA, superbug, resistant strains, cross-resistance
- medical skepticismanti-vaccination, anti-vaccine, vaccine hesitancy, quackery, pseudoscience
antibiotic, overuse, biotic, antibiotics, overused, overusing, overuses, abiotic, symbiotic