Waste from people, pets, pigs and even seagulls may be playing a
significant role in the rise of antibiotic-resistant infections,
including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a
number of new studies warn. Widespread fear of diminishing
returns for modern medicine is becoming amplified, scientists
say, by the discovery of soils and waterways polluted with both
traces of antibiotics and bacteria encoded with antibiotic-
resistant genes, the information that tells a microbe how to
evade drugs designed to kill it. And even if that fortified
microbe isn't capable of causing illness in humans itself,
scientists add, its DNA could find its way into the more
malignant microbes in the environment. "Antibiotic resistance is
likely the biggest public health challenge that we'll be facing
this century," said Amy Pruden, an expert on antibiotic
resistance at Virginia Tech. "We're in a state of complacency
right now. We count on antibiotics working for us, but they are
slowly starting to lose their effectiv