Antibiotics 'losing effectiveness'

Dr Paul Cosford, acting Chief Executive of Health Protection Agency, has told Daybreak that the UK must develop new antibiotics.

He said: "When a bug becomes resistent to an antibiotic, we need to use new antibiotics and there aren't that many antibiotics in the pipeline."

Daybreak's Health Editor, Dr Hilary Jones, has told viewers that the World Health Organisation have said for some years that antibiotics resistance is "amongst the top three threats to man kind in the near future."

Antibiotics are losing their effectiveness at a rate that is both alarming and irreversible, similar to global warming, experts have warned. Daybreak's Nick Dixon reports:

Antibiotic resistance is a complex global public health issue, the Department Of Health have warned.

Mis-use of antibiotics is causing bacteria to become resistant - the Department Of Health have said.

Some antibiotics aren’t as effective as they used to be because the bacteria they are designed to tackle have become resistant to them.

These important medicines need to be used wisely to maximise the NHS’s ability to treat infections in the future.

The increase in antibiotic resistance is a major concern that needs action at a global level, experts are warning.

The Department of Health have published new guidance on the use of antibiotics in hospitals ahead of European Antibiotics Awareness Day on Sunday.

• Antibiotics are losing their effectiveness at an increasing rate, the Department of Health have warned.
  

• There are very few new antibiotics in the development pipeline.
• Existing antibiotics should be used wisely in order to stay effective, the Department of Health have said.

• Many antibiotics are prescribed and used for mild infections when they don’t need to be.
• Colds and most coughs, sinusitis, earache and sore throats often get better without antibiotics.
  

• All colds and most coughs and sore throats are caused by viruses and generally these will get better on their own.
• Antibiotics do not work against infections caused by viruses, the NHS warn.
• Viral infections are also much more common than bacterial infections.
  

Antibiotics are important medicines used to treat infections caused by bacteria. Bacteria can adapt and find ways to survive the effects of an antibiotic.

They become ‘antibiotic resistant’, meaning that the antibiotic no longer works.

The more often we use an antibiotic, the more likely it is that bacteria will become resistant to it.

Some bacteria that cause infections in hospitals, such as MRSA, are resistant to several antibiotics.