Antibiotic resistance is a growing public health problem. The United Nations recently acknowledged this as “one of the biggest threats to modern medicine,” dedicating a high-level meeting to the issue at the 2016 General Assembly.
In the U.S. at least two million people are infected with antibiotic resistant bacteria and 23,000 die each year. This problem is largely due to misuse of antibiotics.
Research on antibiotic resistance tends to focus on infection control in hospitals and development of new drugs. But antibiotic bacteria aren't just found in hospitals or clinics. They – and the genes that confer resistance – are found in the environment, too.
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