Rising Global Threat: Test Your Knowledge of Antibiotic Resistance
Geneva, Switzerland – The World Health institution this week issued a stark warning: antibiotics are losing the fight against increasingly resistant bacteria and fungi, jeopardizing decades of progress in modern medicine.Infections - including those affecting the blood, gut, and urinary tract – are now frequently unresponsive to treatments once considered reliable, raising the specter of untreatable illnesses and increased mortality.
The growing crisis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) isn’t a distant threat; it’s a rapidly escalating global health emergency. A recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention documented a sharp increase in infections caused by bacteria resistant to even the strongest antibiotics. This follows the WHO’s confirmation that AMR is surging worldwide, threatening to reverse advancements in treating common infections and complex conditions alike. Understanding the scope of this challenge is crucial for everyone,and MIT Technology Review’s “The Checkup” is offering a new quiz to assess public knowledge of this critical issue.
Antimicrobial resistance occurs when microorganisms – bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites - evolve to withstand the drugs designed to kill them. This happens naturally, but the overuse and misuse of antimicrobials accelerates the process.As bacteria become resistant, infections become harder to treat, leading to longer hospital stays, higher medical costs, and increased mortality rates.
The WHO report underscores the urgent need for increased awareness and action. The quiz, designed to be both informative and engaging, aims to educate the public on the fundamentals of AMR, the role of microbes and antibiotics, and the scale of the problem. Take the quiz to test your understanding and learn how you can help combat this growing threat to global health.
This article first appeared in The Checkup,MIT technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter.To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here.
