Revenge of the Microbes: How Bacterial Resistance Is Undermining the Antibiotic Miracle / Edition 1

by Abigail A. Salyers, Dixie D. Whitt

Overview

A single source of answers to questions average people are asking.
• Provides the scientific information readers will need to form opinions and make informed decisions regarding the use of antibiotics.
• Examines specific antibiotics and controversies in a real-life context; presents accounts of positions on all sides of the public policy debate; and discusses less common issues such as what happens to antibiotics once they are released into the environment.
• Encourages readers to consider the extensive role of antibiotics in modern medicine and the potentially catastrophic impact the loss of effective antibiotics would have today and on future generations.
• Appeals to a diverse readership, including biologists, doctors, teachers, students, lawyers, environmentalists, and average citizens.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781555812980
Publisher:	ASM Press
Publication date:	04/14/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	186
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

Table of Contents

Table of Contents


Magic Bullets, Miracle Drugs
A Brief Look at the History of Antibiotics
Bacteria Reveal Their Adaptability, Threatening the Brief Reign of Antibiotics
Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in the News
Antibiotics That Inhibit Bacterial Cell Wall Synthesis
Antibiotics That Inhibit the Synthesis of Bacterial Proteins
Fluoroquinolones, Sulfa Drugs, and Antituberculosis Drugs
Bacterial Promiscuity: How Bacterial Sex Contributes to Development of Resistance
The Looming Crisis in Antibiotic Availability
Antiseptics and Disinfectants
Antiviral, Antifungal, and Antiprotozoal Compounds
Appendix 1. Structures of Antimicrobial Agents Mentioned in the Text

Appendix 2. How Clinical Laboratories Measure Resistance

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Rachel L. Robson, B.S., PhD (ABD)(Doane College)
Description: This book explains to a nonscientist audience antimicrobial resistance and why it is a serious threat to human health. Although it is a fairly easy read, even for those with little or no microbiology experience, it does not oversimplify or slip into inaccurate overgeneralizations, as many popular science books do.
Purpose: Drs. Salyers and Whitt aim to explain the basics of antibacterial resistance to nonscientists, so that they will understand why one should not take penicillin for the flu, for instance, or insist upon antibacterial soaps. Since the future of antibiotics depends on millions of individuals making informed decisions about antibiotic use, this book could not be more needed. The conversational writing style helps the authors meet this objective, by being emphatic without being preachy.
Audience: The book is clearly aimed at the nonscientist. But it is an excellent supplemental text for an undergraduate microbiology course, or even an introductory college biology course. The authors do an excellent job discussing the social and economic reasons why antibiotics are used in the way they are today, even though we know that such usage will likely lead to antibiotics' early obsolescence. This helps college biology students to understand how microbiology affects their everyday lives, and how political or economic decisions can affect human health. Further, the book does a great job of explaining, in easy-to-understand language, bacterial genetics, metabolism and evolution, making it a handy companion to (often, too jargon-y) microbiology textbooks. I have added this as a required text for the introductory college microbiology courses I teach for this reason.
Features: The best thing about this book is its breezy, conversational writing style that still does not sacrifice scientific accuracy. A close second is its thoughtful discussion of social and economic factors contributing to the overuse of antibiotics. Thought-provoking discussion questions (my favorite: Should county X be charged with bioterrorism for using drugs in such a way that led to the emergence of a completely drug-resistant TB strain?) keep readers considering what they've read long after they put the book down. As a microbiologist with an interest in antibiotic resistance, I still found myself having many gee-whiz moments. (tetQ gene transfer is actually induced by tetracycline itself [p. 105]? Cool.) More attention might have been paid to fitness landscapes, and the fact that bacteria won't inveitably evolve towards antibiotic susceptibility again if we stop using antibiotics. Too many people have this comforting view — that resistance to drugs necessarily makes bacteria less fit — and it would have been nice for the authors to address this more thoroughly than they did here.
Assessment: I am recommending Revenge of the Microbes to all my nonmicrobiologist friends, and requiring it of all my microbiology students. I only wish this book were better known, and more widely publicized, so that more people would read it. This is an important book that addresses an important topic, without ever seeming pedantic or stuffy. It is also reasonably priced for a trade paperback, and downright cheap for a college textbook. Overall, this is a fantastic value for the money.

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