Why Antibiotic Resistance Is More Worrisome Than Ever

A health crisis is rapidly unfolding worldwide. It causes suffering and death, costs billions and threatens to overwhelm health-care systems, patients and their families.

No, it’s not the coronavirus pandemic. It’s that other disastrous health crisis: drug resistance. Bacteria and other microbes that cleverly change and evolve are outsmarting the antimicrobials once hailed as miraculous cures. Worldwide, 700,000 people die each year due to drug-resistant diseases, according to the World Health Organization.

Until a few months ago, drug-resistant disease was one of the world’s top health concerns. Now it takes a back seat to the coronavirus pandemic. Muhammad Hamid Zaman is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor at Boston University. His book, Biography of Resistance: The Epic Battle Between People and Pathogens, was released by Harper Wave on April 21.