Antibiotic Resistance: How Humans Ruined Miracle Drugs

Antibiotic resistance is possibly the biggest existential threat to humanity. What were the causes, how does it work, and what do we do about it?

☠️NONE OF THE INFORMATION IN THIS VIDEO SHOULD BE USED AS MEDICAL ADVICE OR OPINION. IT IS FOR GENERAL EDUCATION AND ENTERTAINMENT☠️

🔗 L I N K S 🔗

🔑 P A T R O N S 🔑
Joanne K
Sal F.
Ansel K
Anton
Brandon K
Pranav M
Paul
Brendan P
Dane M
Kristoffer R
Jakub V
Joe B
Karly N
Mindi F
Drake W
Kathy K
Mike W
Hyeon-Seo
Jacob S.
Robin B
Robb W
Sarah B
Carl
Dontae W
Karen S
Michael R
Brian H
Jonathan G
Brian T
Thelma S
Silverstar
Brian B
Michael G
Zoe C

📜 S O U R C E S 📜

[Affiliate links] I get a commission if you decide to buy it through this link.
Miracle Cure, the Creation of Antibiotics by William Rosen

Big Chicken by Maryn McKenna

The antibiotic resistance crisis, with a focus on the United States (2017)
The evolving response to antibiotic resistance (1945–2018)

Animal Protein Factor by Jukes et al (1949) CC BY 4.0 DEED

Use of Ichip for High-Throughput In Situ Cultivation of “Uncultivable” Microbial Species (2010)

💻 C O N T A C T 💻
If you’d like to sponsor a video or have other business inquiries:

⌛T I M E S T A M P S ⌛
0:00 Intro
0:58 Biology of Antibiotic Resistance
5:51 Human Use
16:24 Agriculture
26:41 Solutions

[PatKellyTeaches]

That's a wrap on 2023! Thank you for all the support and positive feedback this year. Your comments have me excited to make more videos next year, starting off with the phage video in January! 🦠💊🩺

[MrBones]

I unfortunately got a very early introduction to this issue when I got MRSA in high school from poorly cleaned wrestling gear. Thankfully they found an obscure antibiotic on the third try that killed it but I didn’t even fully recognize how much danger I was in until my biology teacher explained resistance to me. Since then I’ve been very careful about never taking antibiotics unless absolutely necessary but it genuinely scares me how little we are talking about this as a society.

[robertfrank]

Interesting video- I am a physician and one of the bigger issues I encounter is people who clearly have a viral illness based on their history and exam (and even with a positive flu or covid test) basically demand an antibiotic for their symptoms, despite my careful explanation that not only will they not help, but have potential adverse effects that can be very severe (like antibiotic induced colitis that requires different anti microbial agents to treat that type of diarrhea)- doctors aren’t really permitted to do the right thing in many cases as medical practice is ‘patient satisfaction’ score driven, which is very sad. I’m just happy I’m on my way out in the next few years (as a doctor). I fear for the future as many may die as a result of poor decisions and inappropriate use of medications such as antibiotics. The same thing is happening with use of antifungals as well as some strains of fungi can’t be treated with some of the more typical medications used today (see Candida auris for an example)

[Eliphas_Leary]

Around 20 years ago I worked as a mortician. One day we had a case where the death certificate said "MRSA". We didn't know what it was, so we called our institute and it took them a while to give us what they could find out, it was worrying and we didn't feel good handeling the case. Over the next few months, we got cases of MRSA from most hospitals in the larger region. Looking back, I can still feel the shock of seeing that pale body in a white plastic bag with a black liquid on the bottom. But the true horror of what we saw back then is how fast we got used to those cases. Another one of those with a bag? Just don't open the bag and carry on.

[starbock]

33:13 - "How do we financially incentivize pharma companies to research antibiotics?"

And therein, in one sentence, is the root of the problem ... many problems ...

[Litepaw]

I had aureus-based sepsis and bacterial endocarditis last year, and i almost died. Im just so so SOOO grateful that people actually care enough about this problem that they are slowly starting to change some things to mitigate and prevent a future of untreatable super-infections.

The strain of staph. aureus was only mildly resistant to a single type of antibiotic, but it was still a huge problem because nothing happened even after 2 weeks of being on a single i.v antibiotic. The bacterial load started dropping after i was given 2 different antibiotics, one was flucloxacillin and one was some cephalosporin derivative. They ended up doing heart surgery too.
I'm extremely lucky to be alive. And im only 29 years old with no long-term health issues. Shit like this can just creep up and surprise anyone.

[scottlarson]

I was hoping the prescribing of tetracycline for skin problems would get a mention. It seemed like half my friends in the 1980s were popping tetra every day in fear of acne.

[IMBlakeley]

As well as the rush to pump animals full of antibiotics in the US (approx 3x the rate of other western countries) there's also the issue in some countries they are sold OTC to the ill informed.

[ievavain]

Great video! As a pharmacology graduate, it's very refreshing to see simple but not overly simplified summaries of mechanisms of drugs and resistance! Not too complicated for someone who isn't familiar with the field, yet enough specific detail and well explained concepts. Good job!!

[andrewfidel]

Such a great series, I really wish the algorithm would reward long form informative stuff like this more!

[alexisflory]

Just noticed the plague plushie and I approve his presence

[biopharmmarkets]

Scientist here. This was an Excellent video. One thing you didn’t mention was “mining” bacterial genomes for silent biosynthetic gene clusters (aka genome mining). Many bacteria can make tons of different types of antibiotics but they just never turn those genes on. It’s also very hard to force them to turn those genes on to see if they make anything cool.

We can use tools to analyze a bacteria’s entire genome which allows us to identify these “silent” clusters of genes that potentially make antibiotic molecules

Once you’ve identified an interesting cluster of genes, you can use fancy techniques to force a different bacteria to make that molecule for you so that you can study it.


If you’re curious about this feel free to reply to me. I’d love to tell you more! Check out the work of researchers like Dr. Bo Li at UNC Chapel Hill or Dr. Wilfred Van Der Donk at UIUC.

[rileymerson]

Your content is fascinating, succinct and very well researched. Your videos have a perfect balance of digestible yet thorough history and data, while also using pharmacology and biology jargon in a way that anybody who is reasonably versed in either will take something from it in a huge way.

Seriously, it’s so rare to find content that’s this in depth and expansive with longer videos to boot!! You have a great talent for explaining a topic in a way that simplifies the information but only to the extent that it drives the video along at a good pace and where you’re not generalizing or dumbing it down.

It’s so refreshing to have some high tier biology and pharmacology content. You’re on par with sci-show and Anton in my opinion as far as science educators on YouTube go.

I’d love to know what your background is professionally and what you studied as a career!

Much love and happy new year❤️

[razy]

No joke your videos helped me pass a very rough microbiology semester. Cannot thank you enough

[mcr]

Antibiotics are over used in farming and even materials yet only my doc will restrict thier use.

[KellyClowers]

*All* drug development should be done/funded by governments and universities, no patents, and on a non-profit basis. Any profit from the drug R&D gets used to fund further R&D.

[jiscuteperemhale]

A review on bacterial biofilm formation and its impact on antibiotic tolerance might be a good follow-up

[Charrbonic]

This is such an important topic. The consuming pursuit of capital and "efficiency" is truly a disease. Medical advancement and security, while often historically motivated by profit, is always motivated by a desire to help or to solve a problem. These corporations and people do not have a desire to help; they desire to create the illusion that the problem has disappeared, all while doing as little work as possible to solve it. While these groups do not typically develop medicines, they have such a large influence on the industry and on every living thing on Earth that they contribute to medical advancement by stunting it.

[bounceday]

I had MRSA. It was spreading fast. Thank God there's something that works

[princesssshortie]

I'm allergic to clavulanic acid and it's suuuuch a headache getting all the automated EHR and pharmacy systems to understand that I can't take augmentin but I don't have an amoxicillin allergy. 🙃

Edited for typos