Antibiotics Are Failing Us: Here’s What Comes Next

This one’s probably a bit of a bleaker episode, but it’s about something absolutely fascinating that we should know more about: Antimicrobial resistance. By 2050, it could kill more people than cancer.Now, in this episode I use the terms antimicrobial and antibiotic interchangeably. Technically they’re not the same thing — but for the sake of this episode, they are.This is a huge issue we’re all facing, and most of us are completely unaware of it.In this episode, I share:The history of antibiotic overuseWhat antimicrobial resistance actually isThe 3 types of microbial resistance — and why they should scare usThe pathogens that are really scary (because they resist antibiotics)Who will suffer the most from rising antimicrobial resistanceHow the anti-vax movement is making it harder to slow the spreadHow gene-editing technology is creating precision antibioticsThe best solution we have to this crisisHow geopolitics influenced Western scepticism about phagesWhy it’s hard to use phages in Western medicineAnd the few (but fixable) problems with phagesKey Quotes“More than 1.3 million people every year already die because antibiotics no longer work for them.”More info I mentioned the book the good virus which you can check out here.Find our full podcast via the website here:https://www.nowthatswhaticall.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatswhaticallgreen/You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briannemwest/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@briannemwestLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannemwest/For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/