how does not finishing a course of antibiotics cause antibiotic resistance?
In: 4297
Newer information has come to show that may not be entirely correct.
The article below points out that “Most of us were taught that terminating antibiotics prematurely can lead to the development of bacterial resistance. This has proven to be a myth as mounting evidence supports the opposite. In fact, it is prolonged exposure to antibiotics that provides the selective pressure to drive antimicrobial resistance; hence, longer courses are more likely to result in the emergence of resistant bacteria. Additionally, long durations of therapy put patients at increased risk for adverse effects.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5661683/
The WHO notes that
“Evidence is emerging that shorter courses of antibiotics may be just as effective as longer courses for some infections. Shorter treatments make more sense – they are more likely to be completed properly, have fewer side effects and also likely to be cheaper. They also reduce the exposure of bacteria to antibiotics, thereby reducing the speed by which the pathogen develops resistance.”
https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/antimicrobial-resistance-does-stopping-a-course-of-antibiotics-early-lead-to-antibiotic-resistance
See also
https://bpac.org.nz/BPJ/2015/June/symptoms.aspx
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