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The evolving response to antibiotic resistance (1945–2018)

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  • Scott H. Podolsky

    (Harvard Medical School)

Abstract

The intensity and character of concerns about antibiotic resistance, over the past nearly seventy-five years, have depended on a series of linked factors: the evolution and distribution of resistant microbes themselves; our differential capacity and efforts to detect such microbes; evolving models of antibiotic resistance and the related projected impact of antibiotic resistance on medical, social, and economic futures; the linkages of antibiotic prescribing and usage to the prevailing practice and identities of the medical and veterinary professions, and to the practice of agribusiness; the projected capacity of biomedicine (and especially the pharmaceutical industry) to stay ahead of such developing resistance; the perceived global context in which such resistance has developed; and the coordination of efforts and the development of infrastructure and funding to draw attention to and confront such microbial resistance. This paper traces the evolving response to antibiotic resistance through what at this point appear to be five eras: that between 1945 and 1963, a relatively optimistic period during which time the pharmaceutical industry appeared to most as capable of keeping up with antibiotic resistance; that between 1963 and 1981, characterized by increasing concern (though limited reformist activity) in the wake of the discovery of the transmission of antibiotic resistance via extrachromosomal plasmids; that between 1981 and 1992, notable for the explicit framing of antibiotic resistance as a shared global problem by such reformers as Stuart Levy and the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics; that from 1992 through 2013, during which time antibiotic resistance became linked to larger concerns regarding emerging infections and received increasing collective attention and funding; and that from 2013 through to the present, with antibiotic resistance still more palpably and publicly embedded within larger concerns over global emerging infections, social justice, and development goals, attracting interest from a diverse cohort of actors.

Suggested Citation

  • Scott H. Podolsky, 2018. "The evolving response to antibiotic resistance (1945–2018)," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:4:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-018-0181-x
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-018-0181-x
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    Cited by:

    1. Olivia Hawkins & Anna Mae Scott & Amy Montgomery & Bevan Nicholas & Judy Mullan & Antoine van Oijen & Chris Degeling, 2022. "Comparing public attitudes, knowledge, beliefs and behaviours towards antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance in Australia, United Kingdom, and Sweden (2010-2021): A systematic review, meta-analysis,," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(1), pages 1-26, January.
    2. Nicolas Fortané, 2021. "Antimicrobial resistance: preventive approaches to the rescue? Professional expertise and business model of French “industrial” veterinarians," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 213-238, June.
    3. Lenore Manderson, 2020. "Prescribing, care and resistance: antibiotic use in urban South Africa," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, December.
    4. Claas Kirchhelle, 2023. "The Antibiocene – towards an eco-social analysis of humanity’s antimicrobial footprint," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Fortané, Nicolas, 2020. "Antimicrobial resistance: preventive approaches to the rescue? Professional expertise and business model of French “industrial” veterinarians," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), vol. 102(1), January.
    6. Adam Hannah & Erik Baekkeskov, 2020. "The promises and pitfalls of polysemic ideas: ‘One Health’ and antimicrobial resistance policy in Australia and the UK," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 53(3), pages 437-452, September.
    7. Charlotte Brives & Jessica Pourraz, 2020. "Phage therapy as a potential solution in the fight against AMR: obstacles and possible futures," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(1), pages 1-11, December.
    8. Clare I. R. Chandler, 2019. "Current accounts of antimicrobial resistance: stabilisation, individualisation and antibiotics as infrastructure," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-13, December.
    9. Gabriel K. Innes & Agnes Markos & Kathryn R. Dalton & Caitlin A. Gould & Keeve E. Nachman & Jessica Fanzo & Anne Barnhill & Shannon Frattaroli & Meghan F. Davis, 2021. "How animal agriculture stakeholders define, perceive, and are impacted by antimicrobial resistance: challenging the Wellcome Trust’s Reframing Resistance principles," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(4), pages 893-909, December.
    10. Hannah Landecker, 2019. "Antimicrobials before antibiotics: war, peace, and disinfectants," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-11, December.

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