The end of modern medicine?

Bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites are evolving to survive drugs that were designed to kill them. Overuse and misuse of antibiotics in healthcare and agriculture are accelerating this process.

The display featured a stand showing dozens of boxes of antibiotics and antivirals, a wall covered with patient information leaflets about different antibiotics, and a plastic apron worn by hospital workers as protection against the spread of resistant bacteria.

Posters provided context about antimicrobial resistance, and a timeline of antibiotic discoveries and the emergence of resistant strains.

The entrance to the booth featured a gigantic cuddly representation of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Materials to download, in English and Welsh:

➡️ Story Time: The Story of Antibiotic Discovery

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has referred to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as “the end of modern medicine” because it threatens to undermine decades of medical and scientific progress.

Diseases like tuberculosis, gonorrhoea and pneumonia are already becoming harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat. Drug-resistant infections such as methicillin-resistant Staphylo­coccus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) are widespread in hospitals, causing serious illness and death, especially in vulnerable patients. These superbugs are resistant to multiple antibiotics, making treatment difficult and costly.

Without effective antimicrobials, common procedures like surgery, chemotherapy or organ transplants, even childbirth, become far riskier due to the heightened risk of untreatable infection. Once-manageable diseases and minor wounds may once again become fatal. The WHO warns that if AMR is not addressed urgently, we may enter a post-antibiotic era where modern medical care is no longer safe or viable.

Combating AMR requires global cooperation: reducing unnecessary antibiotic use, improving hygiene and infection control, investing in new treatments, and raising public awareness. The time to act is now.