SUPER BUGS
Superbugs are dangerous bacteria that emerge when an antibiotic fails to kill all of the bacteria it targets, and the surviving bacteria become resistant to that particular antibiotic. Doctors may then prescribe a stronger antibiotic, but the bacteria quickly learn to withstand the more potent antibiotic as well, perpetuating a cycle in which increasingly powerful antibiotics are required to treat infections. Superbugs can exchange ‘survival’ information with other bacteria — even bacteria from a different species — allowing additional drug-resistant bacteria to emerge.
Sources: National Library of Medicine, Medline Plus 2008
