Antibiotics are deigned medically to act against the bacterial infections. They do not allow the bacteria to reproduce or kill them. They are very much useful for the body because they allow the body to make its defense system strong and fight against certain infections. When the antibiotics were developed, they brought wonders in people's life because the infection which would take several days to cure, antibiotics made it possible to cure that infection within few days.

There is a common misconception among the people about the antibiotics that they help in curing common cold. But it is not true, antibiotics are used for the infections which are caused by bacteria and cold is a viral infection. It will not be good to take antibiotics against viral infections because then they will produce resistance against the disease and antibiotics will not work for other bacterial infections also.

Resistance of Bacteria against Antibiotics:-
Actually these are the bacteria which secret antibiotics and use them to kill other bacteria. But still there are some bacteria which create resistant in them against certain antibiotics. This resistance is caused due to the changes in the genetic material of bacteria due to some chemical changes. Hospitals are the main source of producing such bacteria which are antibiotic resistant. It's because hospitals are always full of sick people with weak immune system, due to which there are more chances of producing antibiotic resistant bacteria.

There are two ways through which bacteria can get resistant that is either by mutation or
sometimes bacteria share resistant genes with the bacteria which normally produce antibiotics. The strategy of antibiotic for killing bacteria is that it starts controlling the function of them and does not allow them to grow further. The main function of antibiotic is that it attaches to the protein of bacterial cell which helps develop the cell wall and helps in copying the DNA or making of other proteins. But if some mutations or chemical changes occur in the DNA, then DNA will be unable to code that particular protein and as a result antibiotic would be failed to attach or bond to that protein. The mutant bacteria will reproduce through natural process of cell division and antibiotic will be unable to stop them from reproduction. Antibiotics are just like food for the mutant bacteria and they survive well in the presence of them resulting in the increase of disease in the patient.

Though hospitals are considered best places for the mutant bacteria to live but without the antibiotics bacteria feel difficult to reproduce or their protein cannot function properly. Due to this reason mutant bacteria's growth slows down with respect to the normal healthy bacteria.

Considering an example, after the 9/11 attacks in the United States of America, people got scared of anthrax. An antibiotic ciprofloxacin was prescribed by the doctors. This antibiotic had the ability to bind to the protein of bacteria called gyrase. When this antibiotic was consumed by the patients, it disallowed the bacteria to reproduce and had made the immune system of the patient's body so strong that it itself fought against these bacteria and blocked their further reproduction. But after sometimes, mutation occurred in the bacteria and they developed resistant against these antibiotics which became the major health problem in the US.

There is another reason of bacterial resistance against antibiotics. Bacteria which are mutant share their genetic material with the neighboring healthy companions. As a result, those healthy bacteria also develop the properties of resistance. It is a common feature of bacteria that they share their genetic material or copies of DNA with their neighboring bacteria.

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