Antibiotics

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?
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 (R) 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 (R) offers a clear-eyed overview of where we are, and what the future holds, as antibiotics lose their might.