HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
If we take a step out of the microbial world and into a round world historical overview
of humanity in the Anthropocene, we might start with a high-flying GSA satellite
Google search (we can view everything now, not to be confused with our low-flying
GPS satellites) of the evolution of industrial society during the last 5,000 years.
Humanity in the Anthropocene has developed pyrotechnical petrochemical
technologies, which are the basis for the evolution of a sophisticated global industrial
society. The phenomenon of microbial resistance occurs in the context of the evolution
of this industrial society, which now spreads ecotoxins of every description throughout
the hemispheric water cycle.
Effective antibiotic treatments have been a key component of the evolution of modern
society. The use of penicillin during World War II saved hundreds of thousands of
lives. By the late 1940s streptomycin was used to effectively treat tuberculosis. The era
of antibiotic treatments was well underway by the 1950s.
We now enjoy a multitude of cascading Industrial Revolutions that include the many
benefits of the Age of Plastics, the of the Age of Digital Technology,
and the many inventions of the Age of Nanotechnology. The growing production and
use of pharmaceuticals, an essential component of our sophisticated techno-medical
health care systems, now also produce ubiquitous trace components of a multiplicity of
organic chemicals in our surface and public water supplies. The plumes of
pharmaceuticals now moving through our public water supply are accompanied by
numerous antibiotic resistant species that now characterize the human biome. These
antibiotic resistant species have evolved from many sources ranging from the ancient
human microbiome to the growth of industrial agriculture. The use of antibiotic growth
promoters in cattle, chickens, and hogs is well documented by many of the citations in
the bibliography and is noted by the CDC as a key factor in the evolution of ABR.
Misuse, and especially overuse, of antibiotics in the many communities served by
____ , especially including assisted living facilities, is another
notable source of the evolution of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
The context of the threat of antimicrobial resistance is a component of a world water
crisis that reflects the impact of an industrial-military-consumer society on our
vulnerable hemispheric water cycle.
Our very high in the sky Googled historical overview might include the once fertile
Babylonian Crescent (Tigris-Euphrates river valley), or the many sailing ships and
timber framed wharfs characterizing the Wooden Age. At this point in the history of the
Anthropocene there were no vaccines to counteract the many pandemics and infections