Imagine a world without antimicrobial drugs.

Perhaps you envisioned the days before penicillin when ordinary cuts and infections were often deadly. This scenario may not stay in our past. It will be our future, too, if we don’t address the growing crisis of antimicrobial resistance.

First used in the 1940s, penicillin was revolutionary. But one of the discoverers, Alexander Fleming, warned in 1945 that the wonder drug might lead to resistance. Today, we have many drugs that treat bacterial and fungal infections, yet Fleming’s fear has come true: Pathogens can adapt and evolve into “superbugs,” infections resistant to the antimicrobials designed to kill them…

Read the article in Mercury News.