This week we had some terrifying information from the World Well being Group: Antibiotics are failing us. A rising variety of bacterial infections aren’t responding to those medicines—together with frequent ones that have an effect on the blood, intestine, and urinary tract. Get contaminated with one among these bugs, and there’s a good probability antibiotics received’t assist.
The scary reality is {that a} rising variety of dangerous micro organism and fungi have gotten proof against medication. Just some weeks in the past, the US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention revealed a report discovering a pointy rise in infections attributable to a harmful sort of micro organism which might be proof against among the strongest antibiotics. Now, the WHO report reveals that the issue is surging all over the world.
On this week’s Checkup, we’re making an attempt one thing a bit completely different—just a little quiz. You’ve most likely heard about antimicrobial resistance (AMR) earlier than, however how a lot have you learnt about microbes, antibiotics, and the size of the issue? Right here’s our try and put the “enjoyable” in “basic menace to trendy drugs.” Check your data under!
This text first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Know-how Evaluate’s weekly biotech publication. To obtain it in your inbox each Thursday, and browse articles like this primary, enroll right here.