Antibiotic resistance: calling time on the ‘silent pandemic’
Marc Mendelson, Michael Sharland, Mirfin Mpundu
Abstract
It is time to stop referring to the antibiotic resistance pandemic as 'silent'. Continuing to use such a term denies the reality that antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, driven by misuse and abuse of antibiotics by humans against microbial ecosystems that we should be living in symbiosis with, is wrong. Both our terminology and who the real 'enemy' is in relation to antibiotic resistance demands serious reconsideration.
Topics & Concepts
Antibiotic resistancePandemicAntibioticsTerminologyAdversaryResistance (ecology)Intensive care medicineCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)MedicineBiologyMicrobiologyInfectious disease (medical specialty)DiseaseComputer securityEcologyComputer sciencePhilosophyLinguisticsPathologyAntibiotic Use and ResistanceAntibiotic Resistance in BacteriaGut microbiota and health