The World Health Organization declared November 14-20, 2016 as Antibiotic Awareness Week to highlight the importance of safely using antibiotics to limit the spread of antibiotic resistance.
This week, Antibiotic Awareness Week 2016, I’ll be highlighting some great resources and fabulous work being done to try to save us from an “Antibiotic Winter” – a time when bacteria cannot be killed by our strongest antibiotics. If you’ve ever questioned the evolution of antibiotic resistance or how quickly it can happen, watch this amazing video below. Each rectangle on the plate is an increasing concentration of antibiotic. In TWO WEEKS the bacteria are resistant to the strongest dose (100,000 times the starting concentration).
If you are interested in an EXCELLENT general book about the problem – read Missing Microbes
Below to some of my previous posts on antibiotic
SOURCE OF ANTIBIOTICS
Entering the Natural Antibiotics Arms Race
ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE
MEGA: Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance in Action
ANTIBIOTIC EFFECTS ON MICROBIOME
Antibiotic Use for Group B Strep + Moms Lowers Infant Microbe Diversity
Missing Microbes Message: Part 1 (Obesity and antibiotics) and Part 2
Can Breastfeeding Help Antibiotic-Exposed Microbiomes Recover?
Catastrophic Disturbance of the Microbiome
4 Microbiome Activities for the Classroom
– the beans and pasta exercise I developed demonstrates the effect of antibiotics on the gut microbiome