A Down Side of Evolutionary Change: Antibiotic Resistance In the
days before antibiotics were widely available and widely used,
people knew the dangers of infection. Even minor injuries like
cuts and scrapes were taken far more seriously. Like they say,
an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure — all the more
so when there isn't any cure. Fast-forward to today. People tend
not to view cuts and scrapes as being potentially serious
medical conditions. Prevention seems less important because we
have a pound of cure — tons, in fact. In 2007, people in the
United States used millions of pounds of antibiotics, and
therein lies the problem. With each passing year, antibiotics
become less effective as bacterial populations evolve to be
resistant to them. Although recent news stories warning people
about antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria may lead you to
believe that the phenomenon is relatively recent, it's actually
as old as the use of antibiotics. Penicillin, the first widely
used antibiotic, dates to t