IT MIGHT be 50 million, or 500 million. Who can say how many lives antibiotics have saved since their discovery? What is clear is that while penicillin and its descendants were the medical miracle of the 20th century, their continued potency in the 21st is no foregone conclusion.
The dangers of allowing bacteria to evolve resistance to antibiotics, strongly voiced as far back as the 1970s, have become common knowledge. The question is whether this awareness is translating into action. The signs are not good. Too many doctors still overprescribe, and too many patients are not completing their courses. Moreover,…
