This week we received devastating news from the World Health Organization: antibiotics are failing us. A growing number of bacterial infections do not respond to these medications, including common ones that affect the blood, intestines, and urinary tract. Get infected by one of these bugs, and there's a good chance antibiotics won't help.
The scary truth is that an increasing number of harmful bacteria and fungi are becoming resistant to drugs. Just a few weeks ago, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a report a sharp increase in infections caused by a dangerous type of bacteria resistant to one of the most powerful antibiotics. Now a WHO report shows that the problem is that growing all over the world.
For this week's review we'll try something a little different – a little quiz. You've probably heard of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) before, but how much do you know about germs, antibiotics and the scale of the problem? Here's our attempt to combine “fun” with “a fundamental threat to modern medicine.” Test your knowledge below!
This article first appeared in The Checkup magazine. MIT Technology Review weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday and be the first to read articles like this, register here.
