Antibiotics are one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century. They have
defeated many disease-causing bacteria, saved many lives, and eased serious
side effects of many diseases and infections.
Antibiotics are only effective for treating infections caused by bacteria,
however. For viral infections, antibiotics have no effect. If a person takes
an antibiotic to treat a viral infection, it will not help, and it may harm,
since it can lead to building up resistance.
As well, over the past fifty years of widespread antibiotic use, many of these
drugs have lost their power to treat infections as they once did. Because of
improper use of antibiotics, some bacteria have changed and outsmarted these
drugs. Bacteria that can survive these powerful drugs have been given a chance
to thrive and take over from bacteria that can be killed by the drugs. This
is called antibiotic resistance.
Antibiotic resistance makes it more difficult to get rid of infections in the
body and increases the risk of getting infections in the hospital. Antibiotic-resistant
bacteria make it difficult, and sometimes impossible, to treat serious infections.
Before the Hib vaccine was developed, 30% of hemophilus influenzae type
b (Hib) bacteria, which used to be a common cause of meningitis in young
children, had become resistant to amoxicillin, a commonly used antibiotic. Since
the introduction of Hib vaccines, the number of infections caused by drug-sensitive
and drug-resistant bacteria has decreased by more than 95% in infants and children.
So one possible solution, at least for some bacteria, is vaccination. Vaccines
can give your child immunity against bacteria that have become resistant to
antibiotics that are used to treat them.
There are other benefits to vaccination. For example, there is a vaccine against
chickenpox (varicella) virus that indirectly works against antibiotic-resistant
bacteria. Children who get chickenpox may develop skin infections with bacteria
called Staphylococcus aureus or group A streptococci, which may invade
the blood stream. So, the varicella vaccine protects children not only against
chickenpox, but also against infections caused by these bacteria, including
those that are resistant to antibiotics.