Humans coexist with millions of harmless microorganisms, but emerging diseases, resistance to antibiotics, and the threat of bioterrorism are forcing scientists to look for new ways to confront the microbes that do pose a danger.

TREATING INFECTIOUS DISEASES IN A MICROBIAL WORLD: REPORT OF TWO WORKSHOPS ON NOVEL ANTIMICROBIAL THERAPEUTICS, a new report from the National Academies' National Research Council, examines innovative approaches to the development of antimicrobial drugs and vaccines.

In the future, treatments could be designed to take advantage of a greater understanding of the complex relationship between the human immune system and both beneficial and harmful microbes, as well as the evolutionary origins of antibiotic resistance.

Source: Eurekalert & others

Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

 

 

Men will always be mad, and those that think they can cure them are the maddest of them all.
-- Voltaire