The Silent War

Could the age of antibiotics be very well coming to an end? Certainly quite a few experts think so. The issue of antibiotic resistant bacteria is very real. Nearly 60 years ago, Fleming’s penicillin was hailed as a miracle drug that would keep a stranglehold on bacteria. The drugs that briefly followed penicillin would help support that illusion. Until resistant strains of bacteria started evolving and doctors were unable to save patients from peculiar bacterial infections. It was then realized that new drugs were needed as a result of the misuse and abuse of antibiotics. More recently, new synthetic antibiotics like Synercid and Zyvox have helped us gain some mileage on the resistant bacteria, but with mileage already on their odometer, how much longer will they hold out?

To fully understand the situation we must come to realize that bacteria have been around for roughly 3.5 billion years. Bacteria, being the oldest and perhaps toughest life forms on Earth are constantly ev...