OUTLOOK 13 May 2026 Microbiologist Alexander Fleming’s 80-year-old advice is still key to protecting the efficacy of antibiotics. By Richard Hodson Senior supplements editor. You have full access to this article via your institution. Credit: David Parkins. Death by paper cut. The consequences of unfettered antimicrobial resistance are as absurd as they are sinister. Harmful bacteria and other pathogens are rapidly developing countermeasures to the world’s antibiotic arsenal, and eroding physician’s ability to treat infections. Unless resistance can be slowed, and drugs brought in to replace those that no longer work, microorganisms that are a minor inconvenience today could be killers tomorrow. And the world would re-enter an era of deaths from preventable causes. That’s not much fun to read. But lest you become overwhelmed by the existential dread of such backsliding, here’s a kernel of hope: antimicrobial resistance is a biomedical problem that individuals can do something about. It’s not even a big ask.…