What a Petri Dish Reveals About Antibiotic Resistance
Bacteria can outsmart our best drugs in days. Lab experiments are showing exactly how, and how to slow them down.
Grow bacteria on a plate laced with antibiotic and most will die. A few survivors, carrying a lucky mutation, will multiply until the whole dish is resistant. Under the microscope, evolution takes about a week.
Slowing the clock
Researchers are testing drug combinations that leave bacteria no easy escape route, and treatments that block the genes resistance relies on. Others are reviving phage therapy, which uses viruses that infect only bacteria.
The simplest defence remains the oldest: finish a prescribed course, and don't ask for antibiotics for a cold.