But seriously though folks ... which rock has DC been living under??
The problem of antibiotic resistance and the paucity of new drugs has been widely reported for years and years - perhaps we need some more Science graduates in Government and a few less 'Arts&Politics' wonks.
I think that's the medical view rather than David Cameron's, but yes, overuse, and particularly, starting a course and not finishing it have made a lot of bacteria resistant. You might not die- as long as you don't ever get any infections.
Pixie - by and large the disaster of resistance hasn't been caused by 'First World' patients not finishing antibiotic courses - that is a problem, but not a huge one.
The main disaster area is indiscriminate use in people (and even more so in animals) in the under-developed world. Unregulated dispensing and over-use of antibiotic drugs is endemic in India, SE Asia and most of Africa.
There's a strong argument which says that "if" (not when) we get some new AB drugs we shouldn't even consider letting them be used those areas, because they will abuse them and render them useless in no time at all.
Indeed, sd. That could well be true. I had heard the reason for resistance was not "overuse" but that when you take part of a course, it allows some bacteria to remain in the system along with the antibiotic and that this was how they"learned" to become resistant at all. I will go with your explanation though.