How to best control resistance is a controversial matter. Existing recommendations do not always agree and some recommendations are conflicting. One clear example is the key components of the Swedish intervention mentioned in Maya's recent post—isolation and contact tracing. In this specific study, children were isolated from day-care, sometimes up to a year.

We recently launched the Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership (GARP) to extend the work of Extending the Cure to five developing countries - China, India, Kenya, South Africa and Vietnam.  Although these countries do not use antibiotics at nearly the intensity that one sees in the United States, they already face high levels of resistance, particularly in hospital-acquired infections. 

A two-month-old black rhino toddles unsteadily into the clearing to adoring oohs and aahs, her back protected from the bright sun by a red cloth, white salve on her ears to help heal some rough spots, and a gentle and patient guide beside her. This Kenyan baby will be nurtured for two more years at this suburban preserve before release into the wilds of Tsavo National Park. At that point, a normal lifespan’s survival would be nearly assured, despite having been abandoned by her mother for reasons we’ll never know, possibly after a premature birth.

We tend to think of antibiotic resistance somewhat parochially as the problem that exists in the United States, and possibly in other high-income countries.