[LibWhacker]

Here's an amazing possibility:

"Antibiotics work in different ways, but they all need to bind to bacterial cells in order to kill them," explains lead author Dr Joseph Ndieyira (UCL Medicine). "Antibiotics have 'keys' that fit 'locks' on bacterial cell surfaces, allowing them to latch on. When a bacterium becomes resistant to a drug, it effectively changes the locks so the key won't fit any more. Incredibly, we found that certain antibiotics can still 'force' the lock, allowing them to bind to and kill resistant bacteria because they are able to push hard enough. In fact, some of them were so strong they tore the door off its hinges, killing the bacteria instantly!"

If it proves to be true, I think humanity's worries about bacteria (and probably viruses, too) are over with.

[Rashputin]

Funny how the "end of antibiotics", dun dun duuu... first became big news a few years after Paul Ehrlich wrote The Population Bomb and not long after that, How To Survive The Coming Ice Age was on the cover of Time magazine.

[Does so]

Since having knee-replacement surgery, my surgeon insists on four capsules of Amoxicillin taken the day before each visit to the dentist.

I understand the reasoning, but recent news suggests this regimen is not necessary.

[Svartalfiar]

The case of the six-year-old girl who developed antibiotic resistance is not an isolated one in the world of antibiotics. As these super drugs are routinely prescribed, controversies on their abuse and overuse are beginning to throw a big question-mark on whether antibiotics have outgrown their effectiveness.

Huh? How does a person develop antibiotic resistance? Don't they mean the infection she had was antibiotic-resistant?