It's a good news/bad news scenario. Good news is that we've potentially found a new way to create antibiotics. The bad news is that it took us so long to think of it and millions more might die of new diseases before we can finally get efficacy at scale out of these techniques.
What new diseases? Antibiotic resistance is most problematic in old friends.
The good news is that we are still equipped with hygiene and an understanding of what causes infection, which goes an awful long way towards limiting the spread of it. In a historical context, both of those things are almost as new as antibiotics themselves.
The bad news is that it took us so long to think of it and millions more might die of new diseases before we can finally get efficacy at scale out of these techniques.
This isn't new, though, that's just reality before this discovery—if we can't use our existing antibiotics we're screwed.
Comments
It's a good news/bad news scenario. Good news is that we've potentially found a new way to create antibiotics. The bad news is that it took us so long to think of it and millions more might die of new diseases before we can finally get efficacy at scale out of these techniques.
What new diseases? Antibiotic resistance is most problematic in old friends.
The good news is that we are still equipped with hygiene and an understanding of what causes infection, which goes an awful long way towards limiting the spread of it. In a historical context, both of those things are almost as new as antibiotics themselves.
This isn't new, though, that's just reality before this discovery—if we can't use our existing antibiotics we're screwed.