Antibiotics have long been hailed as one of medicine’s greatest breakthroughs, transforming once-deadly infections into treatable conditions.
But their effectiveness is now under threat, not from a lack of innovation, but from widespread misuse and misunderstanding.
In Malaysia, antibiotics are still commonly taken for viral illnesses like the flu, colds, and sore throats, even though these conditions don’t respond to such treatment.
This misuse fuels antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a growing public health crisis where bacteria adapt and become resistant to antibiotics, rendering common infections harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat.
To preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics, we must first understand how they work and let go of harmful myths that are still widely believed.
Here are five common antibiotic myths Malaysians need to stop believing:
