Antibiotics in the environment

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For years scientists have warned the misuse and over-use of antibiotics is causing some bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics. Antibiotics are the first line of defense against sicknesses caused by bacteria. If the number of resistant strains of bacteria continues to grow, illnesses once easily treatable with antibiotics could become incurable. Bacteria can develop resistance in hospitals, and also on farms where animals are treated routinely with antibiotics. Now resistant bacteria are starting to spread outward into the environment, into the nation's streams and rivers. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports.

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