Abstract
This introduction aims to give the reader a brief outline of the content of each of the following chapters of this book. It introduces the matters discussed but in a way it also dives straight into the heart of the problem of antimicrobial resistance. It touches on conflicting individual and collective health needs, the high human and economic costs, the far-reaching consequences of outbreaks, especially when they are not dealt with properly, the current status of antimicrobial resistance, the role of infection prevention and medical microbiology, the contribution of the veterinary use of antibiotics to the overall problem and the quest for solutions. This book is based both on the original Dutch 2013 edition and on the German 2015 edition. Most of the interviews it refers to were held between the end of 2011 and spring 2015. This English version has been updated and a number of new interviews were held to make that possible.
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Notes
- 1.
KPCÂ =Â Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase. Carbapenemase is an enzyme that makes bacteria resistant to the important carbapenem class of antibiotics. Carbapenems are high-performance antibiotics with relatively few side effects.
- 2.
Escherichia coli or, for brevity’s sake, E. coli were named after their discoverer, Theodor Escherich.
- 3.
OXA-48 is an enzyme that makes bacteria resistant to the highly effective carbapenem antibiotics.
- 4.
The enzyme that makes the bacteria resistant was named after the place where it was first identified: New Delhi metallo beta lactamase.
- 5.
Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment).
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van den Brink, R. (2021). Introduction. In: The End of an Antibiotic Era. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70723-1_1
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