Riley's Research Shows the 'Post-Antibiotic Apocalypse' Can Be Prevented. Here's How

The era of antibiotics that began almost a century ago is coming to an end. Diseases that were once easily treatable have become resistant to even the most potent antibiotics. Around the globe, drug-resistant infections claim hundreds of thousands of lives a year; according to one report, the toll of infectious disease deaths could rise to 10 million a year by 2050. England’s chief medical officer warns of an impending “post-antibiotic apocalypse.”

Pharmaceutical companies keep rolling out new antibiotics, often to great fanfare. But experts say such innovations won’t stop the potential disaster barreling our way.
An illustration of bacteriophages infecting bacteria.
Kateryna Kon / Science Photo Library via Getty Images

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