Antibiotics

Virtually everyone has taken antibiotics. They can be lifesavers -- and they can be useless. What are they? How are they used? And what happens as the effectiveness of antibiotics continues to decline? Antibiotics: What Everyone Needs to Know? examines the personal and societal implications of our planet''s most important -- and frequently misused -- 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 causes and consequences of bacterial resistance to antibiotics; how the globalized world enables antibiotic resistance to spread quickly; and the difficult decisions ahead for both medical care and the food system.Grounded in the latest scientific research and crafted 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 power.