Blog: Upstream strategies for microbial resistance

When there is danger downstream, it helps to have a strategy—and the right equipment—before you find yourself in rough waters. In the shifting currents of global health, prevention is a critical strategy against the risks of infection and disease. And vaccines, nutrition, and clean water are essential tools to protect children from the pathogens that threaten safe passage. 

Typhoid fever, for example, is an enteric infection that spreads through contaminated food and water. It remains a common and sometimes deadly threat in many countries. The dangers of typhoid extend beyond an initial infection, too. Antibiotics are an important treatment strategy, but inappropriate and overuse of these medicines has prompted some strains to adapt. Children come to the clinic with yet another infection, but this time the antibiotics no longer work. Such resistance among typhoid and other disease-causing microbes is increasing in vulnerable communities.  

With an upstream strategy of prevention, vaccines can stop bacterial infections like typhoid in their tracks, eliminating the need for antibiotic treatment by keeping children from getting sick in the first place.

Read the full blog at DefeatDD.org.

Image: "Mobile Microbes" by CdePaz is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.