While mutations in the bacterial genome can make individual bacteria resistant to drugs, another underappreciated weapon of pathogenic bacteria is their ability to communicate and cooperate to further enhance their abilities to invade and persist within a host. But recently scientists have begun to attack this problem.

I was happy to see the New York Times writing about drug resistance and overuse of antibiotics yesterday. If you haven’t seen it yet: Free Antibiotics May Contribute to Drug Resistance, Officials Say. The content is good, the title less so. The title of the related blog post, Are Free Antibiotics Good for You? is even more misleading.