There are an awful lot of things to worry about in the world. Are “superbugs” among them? That is, how worried should we be that bacteria will develop resistance to our best antibiotics, meaning infections will run rampant and even basic surgery is out of the question?

In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart wash their hands and then dig in to the evidence on the coming antimicrobial crisis. Exactly how many deaths can we expect from untreatable resistant infections? Turns out the question is, ahem, resistant to easy answers. (Sorry).

The Studies Show is brought to you by Works in Progress magazine. Every issue, every article, gives you a new perspective on a topic you thought you knew about, or a totally new topic to think about. In their most recent issue, you can read about inflation, ancient scrolls and AI, genetic engineering, and the evolution of coffee. We’re grateful that they support the podcast; you can read their whole site for free at worksinprogress.co.

Show notes

* Andreas Bäumler on “the coming microbial crisis”

* Possible source for how many people used to die in surgery

* BMJ article on the evidence (or lack of) showing that completing an antibiotic course is necessary

* Satirical post on how the length of a course is calculated

* Our World In Data on how many people die from cancer each year

* UK Government review of antimicrobial resistance (from 2014), giving the 10m figure.

* More mentions of 10m here (NHS), and here (Guardian)

* 2016 paper in PLOS Medicine criticising the modelling that led to the 10m figure

* September 2024 paper in the Lancet with a more up-to-date calculation

* EU report on how MRSA rates dropped

* Article on the wildly successful UK attempt to cut MRSA infections

* Study on how many antibiotics are in the clinical “pipeline”

* Thread on studies showing that using antibiotics prophylactically cut child mortality in sub-Sarahan Africa by 14%

Credits

* The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe