Antimicrobial resistance is now a leading cause of death worldwide due to drug-resistant infections, including drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, pneumonia and Staph infections like the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus shown here.
(NIAID, cropped from original)
Drug-resistant microbes are a serious threat for future pandemics, but the new draft of the WHO’s international pandemic agreement may not include provisions for antimicrobial resistance.
Sub-Saharan African countries don’t have enough wastewater treatment plants.
John Wessels/AFP via Getty Images
Wastewater treatment plants receive wastewater from a variety of sources. This makes them useful proxies for determining the burden of antimicrobial resistance in communities.
Tolerant bacteria are dormant until an antibiotic threat has passed, then reemerge to conduct business as usual.
Christoph Burgstedt/Science Photo Library via Getty Images
Antibiotic resistance has contributed to millions of deaths worldwide. Research suggests that any bacteria can develop antibiotic tolerance, and possibly resistance, when pushed to their limits.
Candida auris is a fungal yeast that can infect humans.
Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library via Getty Images
Candida auris is a relatively new addition to a family of fungi that can infect people. Most of these infections occur in sick, hospitalized patients and can be deadly.
Washing your hands reduces your risk of transmitting and contracting harmful bacteria from other people and the environment.
SDI Productions/E+ via Getty Images
Bacterial infections are a growing global challenge. This is due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and researchers are turning to AI to develop new drugs.
Most antibiotics work by killing bacteria. But this also helps them to become resistant. If we render bacteria harmless to us, rather than kill them, it’s a win-win.
Around 75% of antibiotics, including penicillin and amphotericin B, are derived from natural products.
Aphiwat Chuangchoem/EyeEm via Getty Images
With the dual threats of antibiotic resistance and emerging pandemics, finding new drugs becomes even more urgent. A trove of medicines may be lying under our nose.
Limpets had the highest concentrations of chemical compounds compared to other marine organisms studied.
A. Mertens/Shutterstock
Antimicrobial resistance disproportionately affects the world’s poorest and most vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries.
Canadian doctors don’t have easy access to newer antibiotics, and must prescribe older, generic treatments that are increasingly ineffective due to resistance.
(Pexels/Shvets Production)
Claire Guinat, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich; Etthel Windels, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich y Sarah Nadeau, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
After a nose swab tests positive for a virus or bacteria, scientists can use the sample’s genetic sequence to figure out where and when the pathogen emerged and how fast it’s changing.
When COVID-19 emerged, misuse of antibiotics increased.
Shutterstock
The quest to find treatment for COVID-19, and the uncertainty surrounding the clinical outcome, necessitates the use of antibiotics in the treatment package.