Most people think of antibiotics as miracle drugs that can quickly wipe out nuisance infections and let families get on with their lives.
Any antibiotic can leave behind some bacteria.
Because bacteria multiply quickly, creating a new generation every few hours, they can also evolve quickly. As scary as that may sound, most infections still respond to first-line antibiotics like ampicillin. And of those that don't, most can still be wiped out with more powerful medications. The trouble is that using stronger drugs encourages bacteria to become resistant to those drugs. To keep pace with evolving bacteria, science has stepped up development of new antibiotics.