Therapy Areas: Infectious Disease

Healthy Bodies Host Helpful Bacteria

Bacteria and other microscopic organisms are all around us. They live on the skin and in the mouth, airways, intestines, and genitals. Some are harmless. Some even help protect the body from disease-causing organisms. Others can cause disease.

Harmful Bacteria Can Lead to Infection

If you encounter a harmful strain of bacteria, or if your body's defenses are weakened, bacteria can multiply in your body. There are 3 possible results:

• Serious infection, or even death, can result when bacteria overwhelm your body's defenses
• Chronic infection is the result when your body's defenses cannot completely fight the bacteria
• The infection is cleared when your body's defenses successfully fight the bacteria - this may be accomplished with the help of medicines such as antibacterial drugs, known as antibiotics.

The Body Signals Infection

Certain infections can cause changes in the blood, heart, lungs, brain, kidneys, liver, or intestines. By identifying these changes your healthcare professional can diagnose whether or not you have an infection, and if it is caused by bacteria. This will help him or her to determine whether antibiotic treatment is appropriate and which specific medication may best fight the infection.

If a virus - not bacteria - is the cause of the infection, antibiotics will not work because they do not kill viruses.

Bacteria Can Become Resistant to Antibiotics

Bacteria have existed for billions of years. They have adapted to the availability of antibiotics and, in many parts of the world, are evolving to become resistant to many of today's powerful antibiotics. Inappropriate use of antibiotics is a primary cause of resistance.

To control antibiotic resistance and maintain the effectiveness of antibacterial drugs, antibiotics should be used only to treat or prevent infections that are proven, or strongly suspected, to be caused by susceptible bacteria. Antibacterial drugs should be taken at the appropriate dose for the optimum length of time by the person for whom they have been prescribed, as directed by their healthcare professional.

For more information about antibiotic resistance, please visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) page at http://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/community/anitbiotic-resistance.htm.

Cold or Flu? Making Sense of the Symptoms

• Important facts and helpful tips