why should you always finish a course of antibiotics even if the infection has cleared up
In: Biology
* Antibiotics kill bacteria
* The first bacteria to be killed are the weakest
* Once your symptoms have cleared up, there might still be some residual bacteria left
* Because the weakest bacteria were killed first, the remaining bacteria are the stronger ones
* By stopping your antibiotics early, you are allowing the stronger bacteria to breed and re-establish an infection
* Now you are infected with a stronger bacteria than before and you may need even stronger antibiotics to deal with it – stopping the course early again will create an even worse problem with even stronger bacteria
* This is essentially how antibiotic-resistant superbugs developed
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