[Antibiotics do more than cause resistance].

Limiting antibiotic use is one of the most important measures to prevent and control emergence of antibiotic resistance. Therefore, antibiotics should usually only be prescribed for infection. Yet recent well-designed studies have demonstrated that prophylactic antibiotic use is of significant benefit to patients prone to developing infections. Study patients suffered from recurrent urinary tract infections, COPD or were mechanically ventilated in intensive care units. In the first 2 populations, use of antibiotics was associated with an increase in carriage of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but in intensive care patients the opposite was documented. These studies demonstrate that antibiotics do more than cause resistance. The pros and cons of prophylactic antibiotic use must therefore be carefully considered.