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You can help fight antibiotic resistance by preventing infections, using antibiotics only with professional guidance, and following recommended care. Clinicians, laboratories, health systems, and researchers also have essential roles: identifying infections, testing for resistance when appropriate, choosing effective treatment, tracking local patterns, and developing new medicines.

How can I fight antibiotic resistance?

Start with steps that lower your chance of getting or spreading an infection. If you become ill, get advice from a health professional rather than trying to choose an antibiotic yourself. The right care for a suspected resistant infection depends on the infection, the bacteria involved, and—when indicated—laboratory testing that shows which medicines may work.

Prevent infections

  • Keep your hands clean.
  • Get recommended vaccines.
  • Care for cuts and follow professional advice for chronic conditions.
  • Talk with a health professional about infection risks relevant to your health or circumstances.

These measures help prevent infections; they do not guarantee that you will avoid one. They also help reduce the need for antibiotics when a bacterial infection does not occur.

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Use antibiotics only with professional guidance

Antibiotics treat some bacterial infections, not viral illnesses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in its 2025 guidance “Healthy Habits: Antibiotic Do’s and Don’ts,” puts it plainly: “Antibiotics DO NOT work on viruses.” Unnecessary or inappropriate antibiotic use can cause side effects and contribute to resistance.

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Do not start, stop, save, or share prescription antibiotics without professional guidance. If you have questions about a prescription or your symptoms, contact the clinician or other qualified health professional responsible for your care. A general article cannot determine whether an illness is bacterial or which treatment is appropriate.

What is antibiotic resistance?

Antibiotic resistance is a property of bacteria: resistant bacteria can make medicines less effective, so some infections become harder to treat. It does not mean a person’s body has become resistant to antibiotics. Antimicrobial resistance is the broader term; it also includes resistance in viruses, fungi, and parasites.

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Resistance is not one germ or a uniform worldwide risk. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2024 Bacterial Priority Pathogens List covers 24 pathogens across 15 families. It provides policymakers and researchers with a framework for deciding which bacterial threats to prioritize; it is not a list of every resistant infection or a personalized measure of an individual’s risk.

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What can I do to prevent antibiotic-resistant infections?

Many of the most useful steps are the same actions that prevent infections generally: hand hygiene, recommended vaccination, and appropriate care for cuts and chronic conditions. Preventing an infection can mean avoiding the infection itself and the need for antibiotics to treat it.

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If you are sick, explain your symptoms and relevant health history to a health professional, and ask what follow-up is needed. Some illnesses do not need antibiotics; when an antibiotic is being considered, the clinician can decide whether examination, testing, or other care is appropriate. Do not pressure yourself or a clinician toward antibiotics when they are not indicated.

Why diagnosis and local resistance data matter

There is no single antibiotic choice that works for every infection. The likely cause, site and severity of infection, patient factors, and local resistance patterns all matter. When testing is indicated, clinicians can use diagnostic results and, where available, susceptibility testing to help guide treatment. A generic article cannot choose the right medicine for a suspected resistant infection.

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Surveillance helps public-health authorities and clinicians understand which bacteria are resistant to which medicines in different places. WHO’s Global antibiotic resistance surveillance report 2025 analyzes 2023 data: more than 23 million bacteriologically confirmed cases from 104 countries underpin the report, which provides adjusted global and regional estimates for 93 infection-pathogen-antibiotic combinations. These figures describe the report’s defined dataset and methods; they are not complete, uniform coverage of every country, pathogen, or infection, and they do not estimate an individual reader’s risk.

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Who else helps slow resistance?

Individual prevention and appropriate medicine use matter, but resistance also requires coordinated clinical, laboratory, health-system, and research work. Their roles complement one another rather than offering interchangeable solutions.

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Level What it can do How it helps
Individuals and communities Prevent infections and use antibiotics only with professional guidance. Reduces avoidable infections and inappropriate antibiotic use.
Clinicians Assess illness, decide whether testing is appropriate, and select or adjust care using clinical findings and test results when available. Supports treatment suited to the patient and infection.
Laboratories and public-health surveillance Test for pathogens and susceptibility when indicated, and track resistance patterns. Provides information for clinical decisions and helps identify changing local or regional patterns.
Health systems and policymakers Expand access to testing and support appropriate antibiotic use. WHO’s 2025 call to action sets global targets for these system-level efforts.
Researchers and medicine developers Investigate new antibacterial treatments and other ways to address resistance. Research may expand future options, but a candidate in development is not an approved or available medicine.

WHO’s 2025 primary-health-care brief describes eight priority interventions, building on a people-centred package of 13 interventions. Its 2025 call to action includes three global targets for 2030: a 10% reduction in antimicrobial-resistance-related deaths; 80% of countries able to test resistance in pathogens listed in the Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS); and 70% of human antibiotic use coming from the Access category. These are targets, not outcomes already achieved.

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What resistant infections can mean for patients

Depending on the organism, infection, and available medicines, a resistant infection may require a second- or third-line treatment, prolong care and recovery, or have no treatment options. Resistance does not make every infection untreatable, and the consequences vary; a health professional can assess an individual illness.

Why developing new antibiotics is only part of the answer

New medicines can be part of the response, but development takes time, and a clinical candidate is not the same as an approved treatment a patient can receive. WHO reported 97 clinical antibacterial candidates in 2023 and 90 in 2025. Those counts describe pipeline candidates, not approved therapies and not a prediction of how many future medicines will become available.

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New treatments also do not replace prevention, diagnosis, surveillance, and appropriate use of existing medicines. These efforts address different parts of the problem: preventing infections, identifying the cause, guiding care, and tracking or responding to changing resistance.

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