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The Conversation
The Conversation
Fidelma Fitzpatrick, Consultant Microbiologist, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland and Professor and Head of Department, Clinical Microbiology, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences

Antibiotics are being inappropriately prescribed for COVID, increasing the threat of antimicrobial resistance – research

Antibiotics Covid-19 Bacteria Pandemic
Antibiotics are for bacterial infections – they shouldn't be prescribed to treat viruses. PH888/Shutterstock

Antibiotics are drugs designed to treat infections caused by bacteria (for example, skin infections). They don’t work on infections caused by other microbes such as viruses (including COVID and flu) or fungi (for example, thrush).

Beyond treating bacterial infections, antibiotics also have other important uses, like preventing infection during major surgery.

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