Have a sore throat? Got the sniffles? Instead of heading for the pharmacy, we’ll all be better off if you skip the antibiotics and just stay home. In the 84 years since Alexander Fleming renamed his “mould juice” as penicillin, we’ve abused his Nobel-prize winning discovery.

Human overuse of antibiotics and their applications in agriculture have led to the spread of drug-resistant pathogens, including headline making “superbugs.” It means that more and more essential medicines are now failing.

The time has come to consider our “resistance footprint.” Otherwise, the World Health Organization says we are headed for a future without cures for common infections.

In this weekend’s North Shore News, Deana Lancaster speaks to the medical epidemiology lead on antimicrobial resistance at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control to find out just how bad the problem is, and what we can do about it.

Check back here Sunday for more.

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