10 Summary

This week you learned how human behaviour has encouraged the spread of infections and antibiotic resistance. You should now be able to explain why the misuse and overuse of antibiotics leads to the selection of resistant bacteria and why resistant infections are becoming an increasingly serious global health problem.

You should now be able to:

• describe the scale and nature of antibiotic resistance worldwide
• summarise how antibiotic resistance spreads
• explain how the overuse and misuse of antibiotics contribute to bacterial resistance
• list the factors which have prevented new antibiotics coming onto the market
• recognise how a lack of laboratory capacity and inadequate surveillance contribute to the development and spread of antibiotic resistance.

Next week, you will look at how the problem of antibiotic resistance can be tackled by developing novel antibiotics or by making existing antibiotics more effective.

You can now go to Week 6.