NPR

Antibiotic Resistance Is Still A Top Health Worry. It's A Pandemic Worry, Too

The novel coronavirus is the world's most pressing health concern. But other threats remain — and are connected to this current crisis.
Muhammad Zaman, author of the new book <em>Biography of Resistance: The Epic Battle Between People and Pathogens</em><em>,</em> in his lab at Boston University.

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 atwas released by Harper Wave on April 21.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR2 min read
Tiny Desk Contest Fan Favorite: nobigdyl.
Last week, we asked fans what their favorite entry from this year's Tiny Desk Contest was — and 10,000 of you voted. We're excited to share that the winner of our Fan Favorite vote is "Go With The Ghost" by nobigdyl.! The band, which is based in Murf
NPR6 min read
A New Face, And New Chapter, In R&B's Unstoppable Rap Makeover
Dallas singer 4batz rose from obscurity to a breathlessly awaited debut in barely a year — but his arrival is part of a tense exchange between hip-hop and R&B more than a decade in the making.
NPR3 min read
FTX Says It Will Return Money To Most Of Its Customers
FTX says that nearly all of its customers will receive the money back that they are owed, two years after the cryptocurrency exchange imploded, and some will get more than that.

Related Books & Audiobooks