Many people develop a bacterial infection known as strep throat at some point in their lives. It causes a sore throat, fever and other symptoms.
If you are diagnosed with strep or any other bacterial infection, your doctor will most likely prescribe an antibiotic. This type of medication generally eliminates the infection within a matter of days.
However, the overuse of antibiotics has allowed certain strains of bacteria to become drug-resistant. This means that some antibiotics are not efficacious (see definition and hear pronunciation below) in treating these infections.
That’s why it’s a bad idea to take an antibiotic unless the medication is needed and a doctor has prescribed it.
To read more about antibiotic resistance, go to: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm092810.htm
Cool word vocabulary question of the day: What treatment do you find to be most efficacious when you have a headache or another common ailment?
Efficacious: Able to produce a desired effect; effective.
Click here to hear a pronunciation of efficacious.
This word appeared on the Cool Word Club website on Nov. 13, 2014.
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