Antibiotic resistance is spreading faster than the development of new antibiotics. In outpatient care, the treatment of middle ear infections in children requires increasingly intensive antibiotic therapy due to the spread of penicillin-resistant strains of pneumococcus. Two main factors determine the emergence, proliferation, and spread of bacterial resistance to antibiotics: the intra- and inter-species transmission of resistant bacteria or resistance genes, and the selective pressure exerted by antibiotics on the bacterial flora. However, 80% of antibiotics are used in outpatient settings, nearly half of which are prescribed for the treatment of respiratory tract infections that are predominantly viral in origin. Bacterial resistance requires the urgent implementation of national action programs with short-, medium-, and long-term goals, before the situation leads to therapeutic dead ends.