Antibiotic resistance
Antibiotic drugs help our bodies fight bacterial infections. They do this in a number of different ways, for example by destroying the thick cell walls of the bacteria, causing them to explode and die. Overuse or the misuse of antibiotics can result in bacteria becoming resistant to the drug, as new generations of bacteria evolve different ways to survive. That is why it is so important to complete a prescribed course of antibiotics and only to use antibiotics when a doctor has prescribed them. MRSA is one type of bacterium that has developed resistance to a particular antibiotic called methicillin (a kind of penicillin).
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