5 things you should know about antibiotics

3. Taking someone else's antibiotics may not clear your own infection.
A medicine that works just fine to clear up your friend's bacteria-related strep throat may not be appropriate for your bacterial sinus infection. Your friend's or partner's infection may be caused by a different strain of bacteria. Inappropriate use of antibiotics exposes the bacteria unnecessarily to the drug, which may in turn cause it to multiply, mutate and -- you guessed it -- become resistant to antibiotics.

4. Products containing antibiotic agents can contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance.
Both the World Health Organization and the American Medical Association (AMA) report the overuse of antibacterial soaps and other cleaning products. The AMA advises limiting the use of antibacterial soaps and other cleaning products because they believe these products contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance. Exposing bacteria to even more antibiotics encourages these bugs to develop more widespread resistance. Although antibacterial products are necessary in hospital environments, there is no evidence that they benefit consumers in healthy households, according to Dr. Stuart Levy of Boston, author of The Antibiotic Paradox: How The Misuse of Antibiotics Destroys Their Curative Powers (Perseus).

5. Although uncommon, antibiotic allergies can be life threatening.
Allergies to antibiotics occur when your immune system inexplicably mistakes the drug for a harmful substance and starts attacking your own body. Such an allergy can result in a harmless rash or it can cause constriction of the airways and a drop in blood pressure, both life-threatening conditions. An allergy to penicillin -- the most common of all drug allergies -- can be detected through a skin test. A doctor injects a tiny amount of penicillin into your skin and watches for signs of inflammation. If the skin test is positive, you're probably allergic to penicillin but not necessarily to all antibiotics. Your doctor may try an alternative antibiotic to treat your illness. In the rare circumstance that it's absolutely necessary that you take penicillin, then your doctor may desensitize you to the antibiotic. That involves giving you a small amount of penicillin either orally or intravenously and slowly and gradually increasing the dose.