622063 external_news 1559162858 1559597143 Each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, 2 million Americans develop an antibiotic-resistant infection, and 23,000 die from it. At Georgia Tech, Associate Professor of Biology Sam Brown, who works in Tech's new Center for Microbial Dynamics and Infection, says the overuse of antibiotics in farming and medicine can make us vulnerable to drug-resistant bacteria. "Very simply, it means you'll take the same drugs and they won't work," Brown says.  "So, if you have an ear infection, it will not resolve, because the antibiotic is unable to kill the bacteria." If you take an antibiotic for a viral infection, which the medications are not designed to treat, the antibiotic can attack and destroy healthy bacteria in your body, creating a void for potentially harmful bacteria to move in. "So, this is actually damaging to you as an individual," Brown says.  "It's damaging to you in terms of your microbiome and your risk of subsequent infection." Study got similar coverage from Fox 2 KTVU.

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