Bugs and drugs: antibiotic resistance in the 1990s

1. Bacteria have been versatile in circumventing the mechanisms by which antibiotics work; in the 1990s there has been a world-wide resurgence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial diseases. 2. Resistance to certain antibiotics develops in bacteria through three basic processes: mutation, transduction, and conjugation. 3. Infection-control programs, if combined with intensive infection-control measures and control of antibiotic use, may be effective at reducing the transmission of resistant pathogens.