Antibiotic Resistance: Understanding and Responding to an Emerging Crisis

Preface

Recent human activities have profoundly influenced our global environment, often in ways we did not anticipate. An example is our use of antibiotics. Initially hailed as “magic bullets,” these chemical agents are now used so often that success threatens their long-term utility. Unfortunately, the natural mutability of microbes enables pathogens to develop bullet-proof shields that make antibiotic treatments increasingly ineffective. Our failure to adequately address resistance problems may ultimately push the control of infectious disease back to the pre-penicillin era. Indeed, it is now impractical to simply invent additional antibiotics to replace those lost to resistance. However, ideas have emerged for slowing the development of ...