More than 1.2 million people died from drug-resistant infections in 2019, according to a new study. The research published in the Lancet, which analysed data from 204 countries and territories, reveals that antimicrobial resistance is now a leading cause of death worldwide, higher than HIV or malaria.

Penicillin, one of the greatest discoveries in the history of medicine, was a product of chance. After returning from summer vacation in September 1928, bacteriologist Alexander Fleming found a colony of bacteria he’d left in his London lab had sprouted a fungus. Curiously, wherever the bacteria contacted the fungus, their cell walls broke down and they died. Fleming guessed the fungus was secreting something lethal to the bacteria—and the rest is history.

Some life-saving antibiotics can cause hearing loss, and we may now know why. A study in mice suggests it is all down to the effects of inflammation, which is the body’s response to infection. This causes ion channels in the sensory hair cells of the inner ear to become more permeable to the antibiotics – known as aminoglycosides – which then increases the cells’ sensitivity to the drugs’ toxic effects.

Bacteria could help protect crops without man-made pesticides, according to a study which used vaccine manufacturing techniques to make the microbes safe to humans while retaining their anti-microbial properties. UK researchers were able to remove the risk of lung infections from a modified form of the bacteria while still allowing it to prevent “damping off” a disease which kills off seeds and seedlings.

Protein aggregation causes a number of age-related disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and prion diseases. Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute have now found that an FDA-approved antibiotic, minocycline, can prevent the buildup of proteins in aging roundworms and extend the animals’ lifespan.

We face a return to the dark ages of life-threatening surgery unless we can preserve the infection-killing powers of antibiotics, according to England’s chief medical officer. Dame Sally Davies made her remarks as Public Health England (PHE) published a report showing that 3 million common surgical procedures, including caesarean sections and hip replacements, could be hazardous in a future where hospital-acquired infections have become resistant to the antibiotics we have to treat them.

We did this. By David Nield.