Antibiotics save lives and are critical tools for treating a number of common and more serious infections.  However, antibiotics are often used when they should not, which can cause them to stop working.  Up to 50 percent of all prescribed antibiotics are not needed or are not effective as prescribed.  Each year in the United States, at least two million people become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria and at least 23,000 die. To help stop the misuse of antibiotics, IDPH is leading the statewide Precious Drugs & Scary Bugs Campaign to promote appropriate antibiotic use in doctors’ offices.  During Antibiotic Awareness Week, IDPH urges people to educate themselves, their families, and their communities about antibiotic resistance.  Improving the way health care providers prescribe antibiotics, and how people take them, will help fight antibiotic resistance.  Preventing antibiotic resistance will help ensure these lifesaving drugs will continue to work in the future. How you can help prevent antibiotic resistance:

• Ask your health care provider if there are other steps you can take to feel better without using an antibiotic.

• Do not ask for antibiotics when your health care provider thinks you do not need them.

• Take the antibiotics exactly as your health care professional tells you. 

• Stay up to date on your recommended vaccines to help prevent illness.

• Wash your hands regularly to stop the spread of disease.