For how we live.
For the pelvic-pain syndrome that affects many men, Cochrane reviews find alpha-blockers, antibiotics and anti-inflammatories each help only a little. Acupuncture and shockwave therapy have the firmer support.
Most acute ear infections settle on their own, and antibiotics barely change symptoms in the first day. Their benefit is real but modest, which is why guidelines allow a short period of watchful waiting.
Resistance is not something your body develops. It is an evolutionary property of bacteria, spread on mobile pieces of DNA — and it was already linked to nearly 5 million deaths a year before the forecasts began.
POET II randomised 508 stabilised patients to stop antibiotics or complete the standard course. The safety endpoint met noninferiority; relapse of infection did not go the same way.
A Cochrane review of six trials found no benefit for the common cold and significantly more adverse effects in adults. Resistant bacterial infections were linked to 4.71 million deaths in 2021.
Expert guidelines back antibiotics for moderate-to-severe cases and simple measures for mild ones. The popular Pepto-Bismol prevention habit rests on 1980s data — and a 2025 trial could not confirm it worked.
In 328 patients with third-generation cephalosporin-resistant gut bacteria in the blood, an old, narrow-spectrum antibiotic met its non-inferiority mark, offering a way to spare carbapenems.