Antibiotics are used to treat or prevent some types of bacterial infections. They work by killing bacteria or preventing them from spreading.
However, a lot of the time they aren’t required or appropriate. This is because:
Taking antibiotics inappropriately increases the risk of antibiotic resistant bacteria developing. The picture below is taken from a leaflet produced by the Public Health England. It describes what antibiotic resistance is, what the consequences of antibiotic resistance are and what we can do to prevent it.
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