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champdecap OP t1_itv6j4j wrote

Reply to comment by penicilling in How is a person who has built up resistance to antibiotics treated? by champdecap

I was wondering about this, but one must emphasise that there are only a few varieties of antibiotics (I'm just thinking names) available and what if none worked? Someone in comments said that doctors take samples of antibodies built in our system and I guess make some sort of injectable antibiotic specially designed for your body which I wonder will be costly as hell. And I assume it takes time to develop such things what will that person do till there is a cure?

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TiredNurse111 t1_itxp14v wrote

If they can’t fight it off with supportive care and it goes systemic? They will probably die. Luckily this isn’t common.

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aTacoParty t1_iu1v92d wrote

There are actually quite a few types of antibiotics. Most people don't hear about most of them because they're reserved for specific infections (oral vancomycin for c difficile, isoniazid/rifampin for tuberculosis, linezolid for MRSA, and carbapenems as a last resort). Most common bacterial infections are treated with common antibiotics to limit bacterial resistance.

If a bacterial infection is resistant to treatment, additional antibiotics will be added in combination. Investigational antibiotics may also be used if the benefit outweighs the risk. Currently there are studies being performed to try and identify antibiotic (or other drug) combinations that more effectively kill bacteria. Some drugs work together synergistically (IE they're better together than expected) while others antagonistically (IE they work against each other) and it's not clear why.

Treatment options for multi-drug resistant bacteria - www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.00080

Assessment of drug interactions - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1701881

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