Antibiotic Resistance 1

Antibiotic Resistance 1

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
On a busy University of Minnesota campus in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, Professor Tim LaPara works to understand a complex problem – one with growing implications for humans, animals, and the environment. “Antimicrobial resistance is becoming more of a problem because more and more of our infections are resistant to antibiotics, thus limiting the effectiveness of these drugs. There are predictions that antimicrobial resistance will actually be responsible for more deaths in the next 50 years than cancer.”

 

 LaPara, an environmental engineer has devoted the past 15 years to exploring antibiotic resistance – looking for clues that could slow the growth of resistant bacteria in both urban and rural communities. “The problem with antibiotic resistance is almost certainly related to how much antibiotics we use. The unfortunate part about that is, we can’t stop using antibiotics. They are incredibly important. This is called the antibiotic resistance paradox. The thing that we need is the thing that destroys the thing that we need. So we need other solutions beyond simply reducing antibiotic use.”

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