How Targeting Mild Infections Could Slow the Spread of Antibiotic Resistance

Should doctors who are increasingly concerned about antibiotic resistance hold off on using them to treat mild infections? Should they use alternative treatments instead, and save the stronger medicine for more serious infections? Those questions were raised in a recent essay published in PLOS Biology by Kristofer Wollein Waldetoft and Sam Brown, both with the School of Biological Sciences. In this audio report, Heather Goldstone of WCAI's Living Lab Radio interviews Waldetoft, a postdoctoral researcher. Brown is an associate professor.