There is a global crisis involving the effectiveness of antibiotics. Resistance is rapidly developing and there are many microbes that are now resistant to all antibiotics! Methicillin resistant staphlococcal infections (MRSA), C. difficile, E. coli, and many other microbes are now major problems to treat and somewhere around 5% of patients admitted to US hospitals will develop a serious infection while there.
The overuse of antibiotics is what leads to the development of antibiotic resistance microbes. Yet our doctors feel the need to use the antibiotic that has the best chance of working, whether it is over-kill or not. This problem is magnified when people are immunocompromised, such as with AIDS, cancer, severe infections, etc.