Each year in the United States more than 266 million prescriptions for antibiotics are written in doctors’ offices and emergency rooms. Studies show 30 percent of these antibiotics are not needed and can actually be harmful. Get Smart about Antibiotics Week, Nov. 14-20, 2016, focuses on raising awareness about the risks of using these miracle drugs inappropriately and their impact on antibiotic resistance. The week long observance comes less than two months after the United Nations identified antibiotic resistance as the "greatest and most urgent global risk" and called on world governments to combat antibiotic resistance in medicine, agriculture, and the environment.
