Using Antibiotics Without Making the Problem Worse
Appropriate use and the resistance problem
Antibiotics are genuinely different from the other medications in this guide — misuse doesn't just risk harm to the individual taking them, it contributes to a population-level problem that affects everyone.
The Scale of Antimicrobial Resistance
The World Health Organization identifies antimicrobial resistance — bacteria evolving to survive the drugs meant to kill them — as a growing global health threat, with an estimated 1.14 million deaths directly attributable to it in a single recent year, and unnecessary or inappropriate antibiotic use identified as a major contributing driver[4]. This isn't an abstract, distant problem — every unnecessary course of antibiotics, and every course stopped early once symptoms improve, contributes marginally to the pool of resistant bacteria that make future infections harder to treat, for the individual and for others.
Practical Guidance
Antibiotics don't work on viral infections — most colds, flu, and many sore throats are viral, and antibiotics provide no benefit against them while still contributing to resistance risk.
Finish the prescribed course, even once symptoms improve — stopping early can allow partially resistant bacteria to survive and multiply, undermining the treatment's purpose.
Don't save leftover antibiotics for a future illness — the dose and duration are specific to the infection being treated, and self-prescribing from leftovers bypasses the diagnostic step entirely.
Antibiotics disrupt the gut microbiome — a reasonable, evidence-supported recovery approach (fermented foods and diverse fibre, not a reflexive probiotic) is worth knowing in advance of a course.
Section takeaway
Antibiotic misuse has a genuine population-level cost beyond individual risk — finishing prescribed courses, not requesting antibiotics for viral infections, and not self-prescribing from leftovers are all part of the same collective-responsibility picture as vaccination.