Antibiotics: What Everyone Needs to Know

A STIRRING EXAMINATION OF A LOOMING CRISIS

Virtually everyone has taken antibiotics. They can be lifesavers -- or they can be useless. But what are they? How are they used? And what happens as the effectiveness of antibiotics begins to decline?

Antibiotics: What Everyone Needs to Know® examines the personal and societal implications of our planet's most important -- and arguably most overused -- medications. In a question-and-answer format, it unpacks the most complicated aspects of this issue, including:

· How antibiotics are used (and overused) in humans, plants, and livestock
· The consequences to date, and the potential crisis ahead, as overuse of existing antibiotics breeds new resistance in bacteria
· How the globalized world enables antibiotic resistance more quickly
· Collateral damage, individually and societally, of antibiotic use
· The difficult decisions ahead related to medical care and the food system

Grounded in the latest scientific research and translated for general readers, Antibiotics: What Everyone Needs to Know® offers a clear-eyed overview of where we are, and what the future holds, as antibiotics lose their might.