Combating Antimicrobial Resistance and Protecting the Miracle of Modern Medicine (2021)

The evolutionary basis of antimicrobial resistance dictates that there will be no magic
bullets or simple solutions. Ensuring that modern medicine can continue to rely on effective
antibiotics will require continual innovation and process improvement. Minimizing the need for
antibiotics through preventive health care and improved sanitation, housing, and access to clean
water is achievable as is ensuring that the right antibiotic is available and given at the appropriate
dose for the appropriate duration. Achieving those goals is fundamental to meeting the National
Academy of Medicine’s vision of “a healthier future for everyone.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced society to confront human vulnerability to
microbial pathogens (including viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi) in a way that has not been
necessary in much of the world for a century. Before the mass production of penicillin in the
1940s, deaths from bacterial infections were common, elevating the risk not only of common
illnesses such as pneumonia, but also that associated with surgery and other lifesaving
procedures and even life events such as childbirth. The extent to which antimicrobial medicines
changed these risks, though hard to overstate, is easily taken for granted. As these medicines
have been used, sometimes overused, microbes’ resistance to them has grown, threatening to
undermine almost a century of health gains.