Nobody likes being sick. Modern medicine and the discovery of antibiotics has turned lethal illnesses into three day colds. We’ve grown accustomed to this prescription lifestyle, but what if one day our antibiotics no longer work? Overuse of antibiotics has uncovered a dangerous problem: antibiotic resistance. In this episode, we dive deep to uncover why resistance develops, its health and ethical impacts, innovative solutions being pursued, and actions society must take before entering an era where antibiotics no longer work.
Special Guests: Tobias Doerr & Vincent Fischetti
Produced by Isabella Ciocca, Rma Polce, & Matthew Kiewski
Edited by Isabella Ciocca
Art by Anjelina Gonzalez
Citations:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, December 13). National Infection & Death Estimates for Antimicrobial Resistance. https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/national-estimates.html#:~:text=In%20the%20U.S.%2C%20more%20than,resistant%20infections%20occur%20each%20year.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2019 (2019 AR Threats Report). (2019, December). http://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc:82532
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023, February 10). What’s the big deal about antimicrobial resistance? https://www.cdc.gov/antibiotic-use/antibiotic-resistance.html
Antibiotics: Are you misusing them? (n.d.). Mayo Clinic. Retrieved October 6, 2023, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/in-depth/antibiotics/art-20045720
Quigley, E. M. M. (2013). Gut bacteria in health and disease. Gastroenterology & Hepatology, 9(9), 560–569. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3983973/
Sonnenburg, E. D., & Sonnenburg, J. L. (2014). Starving our microbial self: the deleterious consequences of a diet deficient in microbiota-accessible carbohydrates. Cell metabolism, 20(5), 779–786. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2014.07.003
Ríos-Covián, D., Ruas-Madiedo, P., Margolles, A., Gueimonde, M., de Los Reyes-Gavilán, C. G., & Salazar, N. (2016). Intestinal Short Chain Fatty Acids and their Link with Diet and Human Health. Frontiers in microbiology, 7, 185. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00185
Belkaid, Y., & Harrison, O. J. (2017). Homeostatic Immunity and the Microbiota. Immunity, 46(4), 562–576. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2017.04.008
Danyi Li, Chunhui Gao, Faming Zhang, Ruifu Yang, Canhui Lan, Yonghui Ma, Jun Wang, Seven facts and five initiatives for gut microbiome research, Protein & Cell, Volume 11, Issue 6, June 2020, Pages 391–400, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13238-020-00697-8
Euzebiusz Jamrozik, George S Heriot, Ethics and antibiotic resistance, British Medical Bulletin, Volume 141, Issue 1, March 2022, Pages 4–14, https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldab030
1.Cirz, R. The world needs new antibiotics. The problem is, no one can make them profitably. The Wall Street Journal (2023).
https://www.wsj.com/tech/biotech/antibiotics-drug-development-business-fda-aa5b4f00.
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