Interesting Facts About “Super
By Jeffrey Snedeker, MD
There has been a lot in the news
lately about “super bugs,” which is a term that some people use to refer to
bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. Super bugs are not actually a new
phenomenon; it’s just that we are seeing more bacteria now than ever before
that are resistant to an increasing number of medications.
Before antibiotics came into
widespread use in the 1950s, people sometimes died of what today we consider to
be routine infections. With the emergence of super bugs, even common infections
can be harder to treat because some bacteria are resistant to many antibiotics.
Very sick people in hospitals are at the highest risk.
How do super bugs develop in the first
Different antibiotics kill bacteria
in a variety of different ways. The billions of bacteria that normally live in
your body always include a few mutants that by chance have become
antibiotic-resistant. If they are exposed to antibiotics, the mutants that are
resistant survive while the others are killed off. In essence, repeated
exposure to antibiotics over time can make these resistant mutant bugs
Do antibiotics kill the bugs that
Viruses, not bacteria, cause colds.
Viruses do not respond to antibiotics. Nevertheless, sometimes doctors feel
pressure from patients to write a prescription for antibiotics. Even most
bronchitis is typically nothing more than a really bad cough caused by a virus,
which usually goes away on its own with time.
What about earaches and sinus
There is also a common
misconception that if you do have a
bacterial infection, you have to be given an antibiotic to get better, but it’s
not always true. Take ear infections in kids by way of example. Roughly
three-quarters of ear infections get better without treatment in two to three
days. However, we don’t know which child is the one out of four who needs the
antibiotic to get better, so frequently an antibiotic is prescribed anyway.
What is the consequence of
The toll it may take is that the
population of bacteria living in your body may become resistant to antibiotics
because the bacteria in your system that responded to antibiotics have been
What is the proper way to take
It is very important to take all of
the antibiotic pills in your prescription for the full length of time your
doctor has instructed. Skipping doses or stopping and starting repeatedly
encourages resistant bacteria to take over. This means that you should not save
a few of the pills in your prescription for the next time you get sick.
Is MRSA a serious problem?
MRSA is the antibiotic-resistant
bug that has gotten the most attention from the media. These particular
bacteria have become more aggressive in causing superficial infections, mostly
of the skin. MRSA can cause serious infections even in healthy people, although
it is a much bigger problem for hospital patients. We are seeing increased
cases of MRSA on sports teams where players suffer broken skin and share towels
and personal items and in people who shave their skin below the neck.
To reduce your risks of MRSA, take
good care of your skin. Don’t do body shaving, and don’t share razors, towels,
or hairbrushes. If you suffer a skin injury, wash it and keep it covered until
it’s healed. And remember to wash your hands frequently.
Snedeker is a board certified pediatrician and pediatric infectious disease
specialist on staff at Cayuga Medical Center and in practice with Northeast
Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine in Ithaca, (607)257-2188.