Antibiotics: What Everyone Needs to Know®
Mary E. Wilson
Abstract
A STIRRING EXAMINATION OF A LOOMING CRISIS Virtually everyone has taken antibiotics. They can be lifesavers -- or they can be useless. But what are they? How are they used? And what happens as the effectiveness of antibiotics begins to decline? Antibiotics: What Everyone Needs to Know® examines the personal and societal implications of our planet's most important -- and arguably most overused -- medications. In a question-and-answer format, it unpacks the most complicated aspects of this issue, including: · How antibiotics are used (and overused) in humans, plants, and livestock · The consequences to date, and the potential crisis ahead, as overuse of existing antibiotics breeds new resistance in bacteria · How the globalized world enables antibiotic resistance more quickly · Collateral damage, individually and societally, of antibiotic use · The difficult decisions ahead related to medical care and the food system Grounded in the latest scientific research and translated for general readers, Antibiotics: What Everyone Needs to Know® offers a clear-eyed overview of where we are, and what the future holds, as antibiotics lose their might.
Keywords:
antibacterial treatments,
antibiotic resistance,
antibiotic-related adverse events,
medical interventions,
societal implications
Bibliographic Information
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- ISBN:
- 9780190663414
- DOI:
- 10.1093/wentk/9780190663414.001.0001
