Which sentence might be used to paraphrase the underlined section of the paragraph?

Antibiotics are medicines that treat infections caused by bacteria. Antibiotics have saved many lives since their invention in the 1920s. For example, hundreds of people in the U.S. used to die of tuberculosis every year. Now, such a death is very rare in this country. However, today many antibiotics don’t work as well as they used to work. Some people use antibiotics when they should not—they take them for a cold or virus, which antibiotics can’t cure. Other people don’t finish their medicine. They just stop taking it when they feel better. In both of these cases, bacteria can become resistant to the antibiotic—it no longer works against them. Once a type of bacteria becomes resistant to an antibiotic, patients with that kind of infection must use more powerful and expensive treatments. It’s important for everyone to use antibiotics correctly, so that we still have effective medicines against disease. Don’t push your doctor for antibiotics, and if you are prescribed some, take them all, exactly as you’re instructed.


1. Antibiotics are important medicines that save lives from diseases like tuberculosis.

2. My mom was worried that I had tuberculosis, but my doctor said that the illness is now very rare.

3. Some antibiotics don’t work well anymore because people have overused them or stopped taking them too soon.

4. Anyone who takes antibiotics when they’re not needed is irresponsible!