A Pre-Antibiotic World Is Not an Option: Why We Should Know Better

Antibiotic-resistant strains continue to emerge and proliferate.

The World Health Organization predicts that ‘superbugs’ could result in up to 10 million deaths annually by 2050. What path are we currently on to prevent this crisis?

Microbes on a laboratory Petri dish (image generated by the author with DALL·E3)

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, a wave of biological information ran over television and newspapers. Doctors, biologists, and scientific communicators were explaining how epidemics and pandemics can arise, and how it’s essential to work in advance to prevent their catastrophic effects.

Possible future landscapes, well-adapted to the gloomy times of the lockdown, included unknown pathogens resurfacing after thousands of years from melting permafrost (something like this one) and the return to a pre-antibiotic era following the rise of resistant bacteria.

The latter is perhaps closer than we can perceive.

On Molds and Random Discoveries: the First Antibiotic

‘One sometimes finds what one is not looking for. When I woke up just after dawn on that September day, 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to…