Presley Martin

Document Type

Syllabi

School

CLA

Department

BIOL

Course Subject

FSEM

Course Number

1010

Course Section

01

Course Title

FSEM: Confronting the Suprbugs

Academic Term and Year

Fall 2015

Credits

4.00

Area of Study

FSEM

Course Description

Since the 1940s medicine has employed a large arsenal of powerful drugs - the antibiotics - to cure essentially all types of bacterial infections. This has produced a profound reduction in the deaths due to bacterial infections - once the most common cause of death for humans. However, in the past twenty years antibiotic resistance (bacteria that are no longer killed by antibiotics) has grown from a rare problem in disease treatment to a frequent problem that is very difficult to manage. In fact, there are now strains of bacteria (superbugs) that are resistant to all known antibiotic treatments. In this seminar we will explore the growing problem of antibiotic resistance with a goal of answering the questions, “How did we get here, and what can we do now?” We will examine these questions from many perspectives - historical, medical, scientific, financial, ethical and political. Students will participate in discussions of all aspects of this issue, and develop strategies and proposals that could help to stop or reverse the increase in bacterial infections that cannot be treated with antibiotics. Students will also contribute to a research project, being conducted at Hamline, to determine the distribution of specific antibiotic resistance genes in the environment.

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