Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic Resistance: Opportunities and Challenges

Certain bacterial infections now oppose all antibiotics. The resistance problem may be reversible, but only if society begins to acknowledge how the drugs affect "good" bacteria as well as "bad". Historically, most antibacterials were used in hospitals, where they were integrated into surgical clothes and soaps to limit the spread of infection. More recently, however, those substances (including  triclosan, triclocarbon and such quaternary ammonium compounds as benzalkonium chloride) have been mixed into lotions, dish-washing detergents and soaps meant for general consumers. They have also been impregnated into such items as cutting boards, toys, high chairs and mattress pads