Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The pandemic of antibiotic resistance

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Medicine

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Abstract

Interdisciplinary research provides a template for improved analysis and management of antibiotic–resistant bacteria, a growing threat to public health.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1: The rise in methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus in England and Wales from 1989 to 1997 (data from ref. 6).
Figure 2: a, Longitudinal change in the frequency of penicillin–resistant pneumococcal isolates from children 7 years of age in Iceland over the period 1988 to 1996 (data from refs 8 & 9).

References

  1. Cohen, M.L. Epidemiology of drug resistance: Implications for a post–antimicrobial era. Science 257, 1050– 1055 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. McGowan, J.E. Antibiotic resistance in hospital organisms and its relation to antibiotic use. Rev. Infect. Dis. 5, 1033– 1045 (1983).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Bonhoffer, S., Lipsitch, M. & Levin, B.R. Evaluating treatment protocols to prevent antibiotic resistance. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93, 4398–4402 (1997).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Austin, D.A., Kakehashi, M. & Anderson, R.M. The transmission dynamics of antibiotic–resistant bacteria: The relationship between resistance in commensal organisms and antibiotic consumption. Proc. Royal Soc. Lond. Ser. B. 264, 1629–1638 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Bonten, M.J. et al. Epidemiology of colonisation of patients and environment with vancomycin–resistant enterococci. Lancet 348, 1615–1619 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Public Health Laboratory Service, England & Wales. Epidemic methicillin–resistant Staphylococcus aureus. CDR Weekly 6, 191–192 (1997).

  7. Austin, D.A. & Anderson, R.M. The transmission dynamics of epidemic methicillin–resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin–resistant enterococci in England and Wales. J. Infect. Dis. (in the press).

  8. Austin, D.A., Kristinsson, K.G. & Anderson, R.M. The relationship between the volume of antimicrobial consumption in human communities and the frequency of resistance. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (in the press).

  9. Arason, D.J. et al. Do antimicrobials increase the carriage rate of penicillin–resistant pneumococci in children? Cross–sectional prevalence study. Brit. Med. J. 313, 387–391 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Nissinen, A. et al. Development of β–Lactamase–mediated resistance to penicillin in middle–ear isolates of Moraxella catarrhalis in Finnish children. Clin. Infect. Dis. 21, 1193–1196 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I thank D. Austin for stimulating discussions and the Wellcome Trust for grant support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wellcome Trust Centre for the Epidemiology of Infectious Disease (WTCEID) University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK

    Roy M. Anderson

Authors
  1. Roy M. Anderson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Anderson, R. The pandemic of antibiotic resistance. Nat Med 5, 147–149 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/5507

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/5507

  • Springer Nature America, Inc.

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation