Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Since the beginning of their widespread use in 1943, antibiotics have saved countless lives and changed the way medicine is practiced. Before their discovery, people suffered or died from infectious diseases that today are a mere annoyance, like sexually transmitted diseases and post-operative infections. Today antibiotics are essential in treating life-threatening bacterial infections, like pneumonia and sepsis, and are used preventively in a number of medical procedures (like surgery) and treatments (like cystic fibrosis).