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Superbugs (WIRED guides): How to prevent the next global health threat
The number of people dying due to drug-resistant diseases is rising every year. What medical weapons and technologies are being developed to stop this existential threat to all of us?
In this brilliantly wide-ranging, one-stop guide WIRED journalist Victoria Turk outlines the reasons for this major crisis in medicine and the steps being taken to control it. She explains the reasons why antibiotics no longer have the miraculous force they once did, and why so many drugs that were once so effective are now falling short. She considers the implications for the future, not just in terms of individual health but humankind's ability to counter pandemics. She looks at the latest research into new antibiotics, preventative medicine, diagnostic techniques and resistance-resistant treatments. And she addresses the fundamental are new medical breakthroughs sufficient to safeguard our health in the future?
In this brilliantly wide-ranging, one-stop guide WIRED journalist Victoria Turk outlines the reasons for this major crisis in medicine and the steps being taken to control it. She explains the reasons why antibiotics no longer have the miraculous force they once did, and why so many drugs that were once so effective are now falling short. She considers the implications for the future, not just in terms of individual health but humankind's ability to counter pandemics. She looks at the latest research into new antibiotics, preventative medicine, diagnostic techniques and resistance-resistant treatments. And she addresses the fundamental are new medical breakthroughs sufficient to safeguard our health in the future?
172 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 22, 2022
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 13, 2023
Another very good guide by WIRED. Page turning writing, good research and a 1000ft overview of the current lay of the land with regards to superbugs.
Begins not by focusing on antibiotic resistance but antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the threats posed by AMR resistant bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoa. Naturally occuring AMR for 40,000 year old viruses and caves never exposed to the outside world demonstrated that it isn't simply exposure to antimicrobials and antibiotics that has created superbugs.
I wasn't aware that fungi and mucormycosis were such serious threats particularly to the lungs and eyes and so abundant in soil. Azoles,.amphotericin B, and A. Fumigatus mentioned. Explains the necessity for a mask/respirator when dealing with soil and potting mix. Interesting new way to culture previously unknown soil microbes in situ and the difficulty of culturing some of them in labs explored.
The work of Hazel Barton exploring caves for potential new antibiotics was interesting and had parallels to the isolation of covid in bats/flying foxes founds in caves by researchers.
Boutique bacteriophages mentioned as an experimental treatment of last resort, work in a complimentary manner with antibiotics.
Begins not by focusing on antibiotic resistance but antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the threats posed by AMR resistant bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoa. Naturally occuring AMR for 40,000 year old viruses and caves never exposed to the outside world demonstrated that it isn't simply exposure to antimicrobials and antibiotics that has created superbugs.
I wasn't aware that fungi and mucormycosis were such serious threats particularly to the lungs and eyes and so abundant in soil. Azoles,.amphotericin B, and A. Fumigatus mentioned. Explains the necessity for a mask/respirator when dealing with soil and potting mix. Interesting new way to culture previously unknown soil microbes in situ and the difficulty of culturing some of them in labs explored.
The work of Hazel Barton exploring caves for potential new antibiotics was interesting and had parallels to the isolation of covid in bats/flying foxes founds in caves by researchers.
Boutique bacteriophages mentioned as an experimental treatment of last resort, work in a complimentary manner with antibiotics.
Displaying 1 of 1 review