, Columnist
New Weapons Against Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
What if we've been breeding superbugs by taking the full course of each prescription?
We’re bigger, but they outnumber us.
Photographer: Samyukta Lakshmi/Bloomberg
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It’s frustrating enough when progress in medicine plods along slowly, but downright alarming when it starts to backslide. Bacterial infections were considered essentially conquered in the 20th century, and now resistant strains are projected to kill more people than cancer by 2050.
While some people dispute the projected death rate, it’s agreed that bacteria are evolving resistance to antibiotics faster than the drug pipeline can produce new ones.