TY  - JOUR
T1  - PReserving the effectiveness of antibiotics
AU  - Gaynes RP
Y1  - 2010/06/09
N1  - 10.1001/jama.2010.766
JO  - JAMA
SP  - 2293
EP  - 2294
VL  - 303
IS  - 22
N2  - 
As a drug class, antibiotics are virtually unique because once an antibiotic is released for wide-scale use, its efficacy diminishes. In contrast, aspirin, one of the oldest drugs, is as effective an analgesic today as the first time it was used. The same cannot be said of penicillin. In the 1950s, the use and overuse of penicillin resulted in penicillin resistance. In the 1960s and 1970s, the use and overuse of gentamicin resulted in gentamicin resistance. In the 1980s and 1990s, the use and overuse of ciprofloxacin resulted in ciprofloxacin resistance. The observation has been repeatedly made, yet clinicians do not seem to be learning from the mistakes that continue to occur with each new antibiotic.

SN  - 0098-7484
M3  - doi: 10.1001/jama.2010.766
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2010.766
ER  -