Contact the healthcare professional treating the infection promptly if it is not improving, and tell them if it is getting worse. If sepsis is suspected or the person is deteriorating seriously, seek emergency care rather than waiting for a routine appointment or reply.
When to seek emergency care
Sepsis is a life-threatening medical emergency. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urges people to act fast if they think someone may have sepsis. If you suspect it, or the person is seriously deteriorating, use emergency services or go to emergency care. Do not wait for a routine callback. The CDC’s patient guidance asks people to raise the question directly: “could this be sepsis?”
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What to tell the treating clinician
When you contact the prescriber or care team, say plainly that the infection is not getting better or is worsening. Having the following information ready can help them assess what is happening:
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- Any missed doses, difficulty taking the medicine, new symptoms, or side effects.
- Whether you have had an antimicrobial-resistant infection before.
- Any recent hospitalization or healthcare received outside the United States.
CDC’s Tips for Being a Safe Patient—dated May 28, 2026—advises patients to report lack of improvement or worsening, share relevant health-care history, and ask whether the infection could be sepsis.
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Take the medicine as directed while you get advice
Follow the instructions you were given. Do not independently stop or change the antibiotic, take someone else’s medicine, or save doses for later. If you have questions about how to take it or are experiencing side effects, contact a health professional for guidance. CDC’s antibiotic-use guidance, dated September 23, 2025, recommends taking antibiotics exactly as prescribed and seeking advice about questions or side effects.
Why treatment may need reassessment
A lack of improvement by itself does not prove that the infection is antibiotic-resistant, identify the cause, or show which treatment should come next. CDC defines antimicrobial resistance as germs developing the ability to defeat drugs designed to kill them, allowing the germs to continue growing. Resistance can make an infection difficult or sometimes impossible to treat; it does not mean that a person’s body has become resistant to antibiotics.
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Ask whether the clinician wants to reassess you or arrange testing, and how the results will affect the next step. CDC says testing helps healthcare personnel choose the right antibiotic or antifungal treatment. Depending on the infection and clinical findings, the care team may need to review the diagnosis and available test results before deciding what to do.
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Why there is no universal replacement antibiotic
The next treatment depends on the actual infection, its location, test findings such as the organism and susceptibility results when available, and patient-specific factors. Without those details, it is not possible to recommend a safe replacement drug, dose, route, or duration. Do not try to select a “stronger” antibiotic on your own; the treating team should decide whether a change is appropriate.
For context, the World Health Organization’s antimicrobial-resistance fact sheet reports that approximately 1 in 6 laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections worldwide were resistant to antibiotics in 2023. That global estimate is not an individual’s probability of resistance and does not predict the outcome of a particular infection or treatment.
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