The federal government is tackling antimicrobial resistance with a ‘One Health’ approach. But what is One Health and what can it offer that other approaches haven’t?
A contaminated water sign on the sand following a rainstorm in Imperial Beach, California, December 2014.
Mike Blake/Reuters
Irrational prescriptions are a major global health problem. The World Health Organisation estimates that more than half of all medicines are inappropriately prescribed, dispensed or sold.
Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928 and revolutionised the treatment of bacterial infections. Ever since then we have been searching for new antibiotics.
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Antibiotics image via www.shutterstock.com.
Antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria change in a way that prevents the antibiotic from working in its normal manner. There are several ways in which this can happen.
Everyone says the solution to antibiotic-resistant superbugs is to use antibiotics less often – but it’s not happening.
Penn State/Flickr
Here are highlights from The Conversation US’ coverage of antibiotics and how scientists are trying to combat resistant bacteria.
They might look like an alien species, but these bacteria-eating viruses could be the next big thing in the fight against infectious diseases.
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Many people in the U.S. have no idea that TB is still found here, or what a major health risk it poses in other parts of the world.
A quantum dot: A high-resolution transmission electron micrograph of cadmium telluride nanoparticles. (The scale bar in the lower right is 2 nanometers long, or two millionths of a millimeter.)
Nagpal Group, University of Colorado
Quantum dots - minuscule semiconductor particles with specific light-absorption properties - can kill drug-resistant superbugs without harming the surrounding healthy tissue.