Antibiotics misuse causing dangerous infection

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (WPVI) -- Zachary Doubek had just finished a baseball game when his mother says he started to cry.

Marnie Doubek, Zachary's mother, recalls, "I said, 'What's the matter?' And he said, "'My knee hurts, I have a headache, and I'm dizzy.'"

Zachary's condition worsened overnight, and soon, he was in the hospital.

An antibiotic didn't work, and the infection raced through his body, almost killing him.

A year later, Zachary still walks with a limp.

Zach was infected with MRSA, one of a growing number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

At least two million Americans get infected every year with them, and 23,000 die.

"When people are sick, they expect - and deserve - medications that work," says Lisa Gill of Consumer Reports.

"But the unrestrained use of antibiotics is creating superbugs that are undermining the drugs we rely on to fight infections," she said emphatically.

The problem - viral infections can't be cured by antibiotics.

And the misuse and overuse in people, livestock, poultry, and farmed seafood has led to mutations of bacteria that are now resistant to once-effective drugs.

"Doctors and consumers are part of the problem. We use antibiotics even if they won't work, like a cold or the flu, and sometimes, we're the ones insisting on them," says Gill.

In fact, a Consumer Report survey found one in five people who got an antibiotic asked their doctor to prescribe it.

Zachary's mother, who is a family doctor, sees the problem first-hand.

"If I have a patient who's really pushing, sometimes I say to them, I'm like, "you're fighting with the wrong doctor," she says.

"You have no idea where I come from now. This over-prescribing almost killed my son," she adds.

Consumer reports is spearheading a program to educate both patients and doctors about when antibiotics are needed and when they aren't.

What can you do?

Read Consumer Reports complete coverage of America's Antibiotic Crisis at ConsumerReports.org/superbugs.

Share your infection story: Go to SafePatientProject.org/share-your-story.

Learn when antibiotics are, and aren't needed at ConsumerHealthChoices.org/antibiotics.

Help stop the use of antibiotics in healthy food animals at NotInMyFood.org.