Clinical Challenge
The Hong Kong Practitioner VOLUME 25 / October 2003

Antibiotics and immunological resistance
S T Lai 黎錫滔


Question:

It is undisputable that abuse of antibiotics leads to the emergence of resistant bacterial strains. Many patients infer from this that taking antibiotics somehow weakens their immunological resistance to future episodes of infectious diseases. While the former phenomenon concerning the entire community is a genuine problem, what level of evidence do we have in sustaining or refuting the latter claim concerning the patient as an individual?

 

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