Antibiotics are specialized drugs that help cure infections by killing off the bacteria causing them. Such medications have made many illnesses, which were once deadly, easily curable. Many countries have laws against over-the-counter antibiotics and force patients to get a doctor's prescription before a pharmacy will dispense them. These laws are the result of medical concerns that patient misuse will produce new diseases that are resistant to antibiotics.
Concern about the misuse of over-the-counter antibiotics generally comes from the way bacteria reproduce. Bacteria are living organisms, and when they reproduce there are slight changes in their genetic make-up. These genetic changes, called mutations, can result in characteristics that make the bacteria more likely to survive a regimen of antibiotic medicine.
When a patient gets a prescription for antibiotics from a doctor, he or she is choosing the exact amount of a particular antibiotic that is strong enough to handle the patient's infection. If the patient takes the correct dosage for the entire course of treatment, the antibiotics will effectively neutralize the entire infection. If the patient does not follow the treatment plan, either missing doses or stopping before taking all the antibiotics the doctor prescribed, then the bacteria-killing effect of the medicine is weakened. Bacteria whose mutations have given them some resistance to antibiotics will still usually be overcome by a full, accurately taken antibiotic regimen. If the patient does not complete the regimen as prescribed, however, then the resulting somewhat-resistant bacteria could survive.
The bacteria that survive will reproduce and create more with the same resistance to antibiotics. As these resistant bacteria continue to reproduce, this resistant characteristic can become stronger. Eventually, its resistance could develop to such an extent that the bacteria could survive even a full strength regimen of the antibiotic that usually kills it. In this case, doctors would have to begin prescribing even stronger antibiotics to treat the same infection.
Physicians fear that this process can result in the development of bacteria that are resistant to even the strongest antibiotics. If a bacteria cannot be killed by even the most effective of these medicines, then doctors would be unable to treat the patients infected by it. Laws against over-the-counter antibiotics allow physicians to restrict the potential for their misuse, which reduces the risk of bacteria developing more antibiotic resistance.
Medical professionals are concerned about countries that allow people to purchase over-the-counter antibiotics. This is because a bacteria that develops a resistance to antibiotics in one country will not necessarily stay in just that location. The modern ease of global travel allows individuals who travel to carry the resistant bacteria, and the danger it poses, with them to countries that do have laws restricting the use of antibiotics.