Antibiotic Resistance: When Too Much Becomes Dangerous

Authored by: Rebecca Lee

Art by: Andrew Mo

Reflect on the times you had to visit the doctor’s office because you were sick, or maybe a time you had to undergo a medical procedure. Do you remember taking antibiotics during these times, either as a child or maybe recently? Personally, a time I had an antibiotic prescribed to me was following my wisdom teeth surgery.

Antibiotics are undoubtedly an impactful discovery that has brought forth life-saving advantages against terrifying diseases [1]. Reflecting on my wisdom teeth surgery once again, I like to believe it played an important role in my medical care. In addition to treating bacterial infections, these drugs have the potential to alleviate symptoms and shorten recovery times [1]. By this logic of promising results, shouldn’t this treatment route be taken more often [1]? Based on these ideas alone, could we make antibiotics the default treatment option?

The answer is no, as doing so could actually bring dangerous (and even deadly) consequences [1]. Despite antibiotics being engineered to quell infections, it seems like bacteria managed to enter a loophole to resist such effects [1]. More specifically, as time passes and bacteria experience genetic changes, “by chance”, they could develop antibiotic-resistant properties and characteristics that could spread across variants [1]. 

This behavior by bacteria has already posed widespread and serious health risks [1,2]. In an online 2025 news release by the WHO it was mentioned that, “One in six laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections causing common infections in people worldwide in 2023 were resistant to antibiotic treatments” [2]. Between the years of 2018 and 2023, antibiotic resistance increased for more than 40% of the monitored pathogen-antibiotic mixes, alongside an average increase of 5% to 15% yearly [2]. 

This medical crisis spans across the globe as well. For example, the WHO, “estimates that antibiotic resistance is highest in the WHO South-East Asian and Eastern Mediterranean regions, where 1 in 3 reported infections were resistant” [2]. Furthermore, antibiotic resistance holds a connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the AAMC, the issue of antibiotic resistance unfortunately worsened after COVID-19 emerged, which involved an increase in antibiotic prescriptions and subsequently antibiotic resistance [3]. 

Now, what does the future look like? By the year 2050, it is predicted that 10 million deaths per year will be caused by antimicrobial resistance [4]. Though this number is grim, it is still important to better understand the depth of effects given by this medical crisis with the following perspectives. 

In a medical perspective, antibiotic resistance poses a serious problem for treatment pathways, as these medications are vital in sustaining biologics, medical devices, and chemotherapy [3]. Other essential procedures dependent on antibiotics include C-sections, prostate biopsies, and hip replacements [3]. From this viewpoint, it is clear that antibiotics are heavily integrated in medical care. 

However, antibiotic resistance also impacts lives beyond the medical realm [5]. This is where we reach the socioeconomic perspective. In particular, poverty was cited as a significant contributing factor toward antimicrobial resistance [5]. Beyond the United States and especially in developing countries, scarce access toward helpful drugs along with unregulated dispensing practices and manufacturing are included as factors [5]. Domestically in the United States, unsafe practices like sharing medications, using “‘leftover’ antibiotics”, and utilizing foreign-produced drugs are probable contributing factors [5]. 

Evidently, antibiotic resistance seems to have both a medical and socioeconomic side. Based on the sources presented, it may be valuable to assess possible areas for innovative improvement, such as how socioeconomic factors like poverty could influence antibiotic resistance, and vice versa [5]. Going from this perspective, future questions for explorations could ask of certain specifics about poverty. For example, which areas across the United States face the greatest rates of poverty? Could poverty be defined in various ways, and which populations experience the most barriers to medical care as a result? 

From the viewpoints already presented, it is clear that antibiotic resistance is a complex, worldwide problem with an interdisciplinary nature. When I underwent my wisdom teeth surgery, I was fortunate enough where I did not have to worry about affording quality antibiotics, which unfortunately is not the case for everyone according to Planta (2007) [5]. Given the projected death toll due to antimicrobial resistance in 2050 [4] and the vital role of antibiotics in transformative medical treatments [3], the urgency of addressing this crisis is also shown. It may also be useful to consider how socioeconomic factors could impact the biomedical factors (as presented in the previous sources). I am hopeful that future research could reveal solutions that support both healthcare and our communities, further bringing them together. 

References:

1. U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2025, December 11). Using medication: Learn more – using antibiotics correctly and avoiding resistance. InformedHealth.org [Internet]. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK361005/

2. World Health Organization. (2025, October 13). Who warns of widespread resistance to common antibiotics worldwide. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news/item/13-10-2025-who-warns-of-widespread-resistance-to-common-antibiotics-worldwide

3. Howard, B. (2025, December 4). Where are we in the battle against antibiotic-resistant infections?. AAMC. https://www.aamc.org/news/where-are-we-battle-against-antibiotic-resistant-infections

4. Gargate, N., Laws, M., & Rahman, K. M. (2025). Current economic and regulatory challenges in developing antibiotics for Gram-negative bacteria. npj antimicrobials and resistance, 3(1), 50. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44259-025-00123-1

5. Planta M. B. (2007). The role of poverty in antimicrobial resistance. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM, 20(6), 533–539. https://doi.org/10.3122/jabfm.2007.06.070019