Aug 10 Watch The economic reason this chicken producer gave up antibiotics By PBS News Hour For decades, almost all factory-farmed chickens were raised on antibiotics. But low doses of “maintenance” antibiotics can spur bacteria to build resistance, creating superbugs. Economics correspondent Paul Solman and science correspondent Miles O’Brien report team up to examine why one… Continue watching
Aug 09 Watch 9:38 How industrial farming techniques can breed superbugs By Miles O'Brien As high-density, industrial-scale livestock farms have become fertile breeding grounds for disease, they’ve also become a major source of drug-resistant superbugs. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien and economics correspondent Paul Solman team up to report on how scientists are studying how… Continue watching
Aug 09 How a flood of antibiotics landed in your chicken By Nsikan Akpan In the book "Big Chicken," Maryn McKenna chronicles how humanity went from developing antibiotics to keep healthy to standing on the verge of an onslaught of unstoppable diseases. Continue reading
Aug 08 Column: The never-ending debate over finishing your antibiotics By Fedor Kossakovski Some health professionals are advocating for shorter antibiotics courses, going so far as to say maybe patients should stop taking antibiotics once they feel better. Continue reading
Aug 04 Watch 9:28 Drug companies aren’t making new antibiotics. Is there an economic cure? By PBS News Hour As drug-resistant infections proliferate, financial barriers are preventing the pharmaceutical industry from investing in new drugs to fight off superbugs. Economics correspondent Paul Solman, in a series of reports with science correspondent Miles O'Brien, explores how researchers could be incentivized… Continue watching
Aug 03 Watch 8:46 The financial barrier to developing antibiotics? No big payday for drug companies By PBS News Hour As current antibiotics begin to lose their punch, there’s an economic reality putting a damper on development. Since every use of an antibiotic drives resistance, and doctors are reluctant to use a drug until there's no alternative, why would a… Continue watching
Aug 03 Why so many companies have stopped trying to create new antibiotics By Paul Solman Dr. John Rex discusses the growing concerns around antibacterial resistance and why so many companies have stopped trying to create new drugs. Continue reading
Jul 16 Gonorrhea may soon become resistant to all antibiotics and untreatable By Helen Branswell, STAT The Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria may be developing resistance to the only two antibiotics left that can cure the sexually transmitted disease. Continue reading
Mar 22 Study finds growing use of antibiotics in livestock across globe By Rebecca Lee In 2010, farmers across the globe used more than 63, 000 tons of antibiotics annually, the study estimated. Continue reading
Sep 18 White House orders government plan to combat antibiotic resistance By Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press WASHINGTON — Signaling the seriousness of the threat posed by antibiotic-resistant germs, President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered the government to create a national plan to fight them by early 2015. Continue reading