The idea that organisms that cause disease can develop resistance to the drugs we use to fight them is becoming more commonplace, and there is reason for concern. Drug-resistant bacterial infections have been in the news for years, but recently an international story of a person traveling on airplanes, potentially exposing others while infected with multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis, received considerable media attention. Antibiotics used to treat some of the most common illnesses in humans, such asear infections, meningitis, sinusitis and pneumonia, are becoming less effective against the bacteria responsible for these infections. Drug-resistant strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae are on the rise in the United States, and some researchers predict that a significant number of these bacteria will soon be resistant to two of the most widely used antibiotics. This finding potentially represents an enormous health problem.
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