Background and Introduction
Antibiotics and similar drugs, together called
antimicrobial agents, have been used for the last 70
years, since first world war to treat patients who had
infectious diseases. Since the 1940s, these drugs have
greatly reduced illness and death from infectious
diseases. Antibiotic use has been beneficial when
prescribed and taken correctly. Their value in patient
care is enormous. However, these drugs have been used
so widely and for so long that the infectious organisms
against which the antibiotics are designed to kill, have
adapted to them, making the drugs less effective.