Healthcare workers in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to laboratory diagnostics and often have to guess which antibiotics to use for presumed infections.
Many articles describe the rise of superbugs - bacteria that are resistant to antibiotic drugs - as inevitable. But society has the knowledge to stop the spread of these microbes.
As measles cases surge, people blame parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. A sociologist who has studied public health says anti-vaxxers may not be so different from the rest of us.
Monica Slavin, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre; Arjun Rajkhowa, The University of Melbourne; Karin Thursky, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, and Megan Crane, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Candida auris is a fungus which breeds most commonly in health-care settings. It’s cause for concern because it’s hard to detect, and is resistant to many anti-fungal drugs.
As antibiotic resistance increases globally, the heat is on to find new alternatives to treat infections. Chemists can get a head start by looking at compounds produced in nature by fishes’ microbes.
Bacteria are becoming resistant to even the most powerful antibiotics. These expensive, hard-to-treat infections are prompting physicians to reassess using viruses to destroy bacteria.
Antibiotic resistance is common in bacteria where there’s a large human population and poor sanitation. For the first time however, it’s been found in the remote Arctic.
Our bodies have a set of defenses that are finely tuned for killing invading microbes. With rising cases of drug-resistant bacteria, maybe boosting our natural defenses is the best medicine.
As new viruses “jump” from wildlife to humans and we struggle with antimicrobial resistance and even climate change, a new interdisciplinary approach to human health might just save the day.
The end of effective antibiotics will be frightening. Life expectancy will fall dramatically and people of all ages will die from illnesses that we are used to treating with $10 worth of pills.
Millions of bacteria live on our skin without making us sick. It’s when they manage to get through that they can be dangerous – particularly if they’re resistant to antibiotics.