Beth Rhoton Give her half a chance and MUSC s Beth Rhoton, R.N., a member of the South Carolina Careful Antibiotic Use Taskforce, C.A.Use, will tell you how harmful they can be and why. She carries the C.A.Use banner throughout the Lowcountry as part of a statewide campaign to slow the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections among children. We re the antibiotic generation, she said. Since the early 1940s, antibiotics have been available for mass distribution and we ve benefitted greatly. And along with vaccines, we ve managed to wipe out many serious infectious childhood diseases and their effects.
Trouble is, the bacteria are catching on.
Dangerously resistant bacteria have biomedical investigators searching for more effective antibiotics a kind of super kryptonite to kill the super-bugs. And so starts a scenario that Rhoton blames at least in part for the rise in dangerously resistant bacteria. The doctor also recommends a regimen of Tylenol to lower the fever, cough syrup for the sore throat and lots of fluids. You guessed it. The child gets better.