The useful lifespan of antibiotics is usually much less than 40 years, and the development of resistant strains is inevitable. Most medically useful antibiotics are based on natural compounds that have been in the biosphere for many millions of years. As a result, bacterial resistance genes have had plenty of time to develop, and so have also been in the biosphere for many millions of years. When an antibiotic enters widespread use, it is only a matter of time until resistance genes in the biosphere find their way into pathogenic strains.
This time can be extended by the prudent use of antibiotics. This means administering antibiotics only when there is a bacterial infection (90% of upper respiratory infections are viral and will not respond to antibiotics), only for as long as necessary, and to only prescribe antibiotics to which the infecting bacterial strain is likely to be susceptible.
Unfortunately, antibiotics are misused worldwide - for growth promotion in livestock feed, as a "just in case" treatment by ER and primary physicians (egged on by patient demand), and as a panacea in many countries where they are available over the counter.
Antibiotics - more specifically, antibiotic susceptibility - should be seen as a common resource that can be depleted by overexploitation, just like fisheries or forests. Because antibiotics have few side effects and are inexpensive, it can benefit individuals to take them "just in case" they have a bacterial infection. But the collective benefit to individuals turns into a net loss to society, as the next person who gets an infection is ever slightly more likely to be infected by a resistant strain generated by antibiotic overuse.
Ideally, we would have treaties that limit antibiotic overuse. But the same can be said for many threats to common resources - forest and fishery depletion, CO2 dumping in to the atmosphere, etc. The prospects for collective action to preserve antibiotic usefulness are not good.
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