Oleksandr Dobrovanov, Karol Králinský, Vladimír Krčméry
In anticipation of a respiratory infection season, we would like to alert doctors that 80 to 90 percent of the winter illnesses
that affect the nose, ears, throat and lungs are of viral origin. Incorrect and excessive consumption of antibiotics
increases the risk of antibiotic resistance and thus mankind enters in the postantibiotic era. The World Health Organization
warns that the problems that antibiotic resistance can bring in the future can be likened to the spread of AIDS
in the 1980s. The principles of rational use of antibiotics must always be based on the assumption that antibiotics are
causal drugs and their overuse often results in resistance, which has a negative impact on the entire population. It is
also important to know that in the postantibiotic era science has additional options for fighting with bacteria, such as
vaccination, immunotherapy and individual immune enhancement. Proper attitude of doctors to disease prevention
and rational antibiotic treatment can contribute to reducing the resistance of bacterial strains.