This is made even worse by the ability of some bacteria to convey plasmid- based resistance information to other species. Antibiotics can be used to treat animal infections, but they should not be given under continuous low doses to increase animal growth rates. AS THE wonder drugs of the second half of the 20th century, antibiotics saved thousands of Baby Boomers from infectious diseases that had killed people in earlier generations. But gradually, too many patients demanded antibiotics for viral infections, against which they don't work, and too many doctors caved into demands for a magic bullet. Superbugs that are resistant to multiple antibiotics.
Bacteria are clever little critters.
When assaulted too often by one antibiotic, survival of the fittest occurs. A few manage to withstand treatment and multiply, and when this process is repeated enough times with new drugs, bacteria eventually turn into drug-resistant superbugs. According to three new studies, these include pneumonia, meningitis, food poisoning and infections of the ear and the bloodstream. To avert a health crisis, patients and doctors need to act with restraint. Antibiotics are truly miracle drugs.