Superbugs in the Anthropocene

A Profit-Driven Plague

Authors

  • Ian Angus

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14452/MR-071-02-2019-06_1

Keywords:

Health, Ecology, Inequality

Abstract

The promise of a world without disease has been replaced by warnings of evermore virulent pathogens, created by the very drugs that were supposed to save us. Scarcely a day passes without more news of people contracting infections or infectious diseases that cannot be cured by the strongest medicines available. Antimicrobial Resistance is a global health crisis driven by two major factors: the spectacular ability of bacteria to adapt to threats, and a pharmaceutical industry and health care system that puts profit before people. In addition to devastating climate change, the Anthropocene may be defined by epidemics that medicine cannot cure.

Published

2019-06-01

Issue

Section

Review of the Month