LONDON, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- According to a new study from researchers at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom, antibiotics are becoming less and less effective in curing illness. The study lasted for 20 years, and it used data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, one of the United Kingdom's largest primary care organizations. As the study went on, researchers noticed antibiotics prescribed by primary care doctors were working less each year. The average rate of failure rose from 13.9 percent in 1991 to 15.4 percent in 2012.
"One example of this rise can be observed in the failure rates of trimethoprim, normally used to treat upper respiratory tract infections, which had risen 40% across the treatment period," reports MNT. The researchers claim antibiotics are becoming less effective as doctors rely on them for treatment more and microbes adapt to survive their effects.