Introduction
Antibiotic resistance (AR) poses a serious threat to human health. AR claims millions of lives worldwide each year. In the US, about 2 million people are infected by resistant bacterial strains annually; about 23,000 of them die.1 For decades, we aggressively waged a chemical warfare against pathogenic bacteria. Through the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, we exerted a selective pressure favoring the resistant strains, allowing them to proliferate. Many of them have evolved to develop resistance even to our last-line antibiotics. Without effective antibiotics, we are not only vulnerable to infections but we also lose our ability to safely use other necessary medical procedures, including surgery and chemotherapy. If AR is allowed to spread at its current rate, it is estimated that by 2050, annual deaths due to antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections could reach 10 million and could cost a whopping $100 trillion annually.2 AR is a pressing public health problem that requires immediate attention and coordinated action.
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