Antibiotic synergy with enterococcal endocarditis experienced a high relapse rate when penicillin G alone was used for treatment and a demonstrably lower relapse rate when streptomycin was combined with penicillin G to combat the infection. Since that time the research community has conducted numerous studies regarding the effects and possibilities of antibiotic combinations. Today, combination therapy is recognized as providing a broad spectrum of antibiotic coverage, effectively fighting polymicrobial infections, minimizing selection for antibiotic resistant strains, lowering dose toxicity where applicable, and in some cases providing synergistic activity. Antibiotic synergy is desirable in a clinic sense for several reasons. At the patient
Antibiotic is coordinated by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as other US agencies. An NGO campaign group is "Keep Antibiotics Working". In France, an "Antibiotics are not automatic" government campaign started in 2002 and led to a marked reduction of unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions, especially in children. The emergence of antibiotic resistance has prompted restrictions on their use in the UK in 1970 (Swann report 1969), and the EU has banned the use of antibiotics as growth-promotional agents since 2003. Moreover, several organizations (including