Page 1 - Foundation for Water Research Winter Newsletter 2020
P. 1
fwr.org . . . from the Foundation for Water Research
February 2020
Winter Newsletter
A
ANTIBIOTICNTIBIOTIC
R
RESISTANCE:ESISTANCE:
Antibiotics…such an amazing discovery
which has saved countless lives over
the past 80 years. But now, as most
i
of you will be fully aware, we have a is it the end of an 80-year-old ally?s it the end of an 80-year-old ally?
problem which could turn out to be
catastrophic in the not-too-distant
future. That problem is antimicrobial
resistance. I am very grateful to
Dr Andrew Singer from CEH for the
lead article in this winter issue of
our newsletter, in which he takes us
through the history of antibiotics, their
many and varied uses, the problems
which have become apparent in recent
years, and some possible ways of
reducing antibiotics and antibiotic-
resistant bacteria.
Also in this issue there’s a big welcome
to Oliver Grievson who has recently
taken over from Steve Bungay as
secretary for FWR’s Wastewater
Innovation Forum. Oliver will also
be contributing a regular feature on
Water & Wastewater Matters for the
newsletter. In his first piece, he looks
at digital transformation of the water
industry and the customer.
Mike Waite gives us the highlights
from the 4 annual WWT Drinking nokwalai/Shutterstock.com
th
Water Quality conference held in
November last year. UR DEPENDENCE ON ANTIBIOTICS FOR HEALTH AND
For information on water-related OFOOD DRIVES A GLOBAL DRUG-RESISTANT INFECTION Dr Andrew C Singer,
events and environmental news Senior Scientist, Centre for
Ecology & Hydrology.
highlights please go to our website CRISIS WITH THE ENVIRONMENT AT THE CENTRE.
www.fwr.org. You can also contact us
via email on office@fwr.org.uk or by Humans have been using antibacterials for millennia Florey’s demonstration of the antibacterial
telephone on 01628 891589. as components of wound dressings (eg honey, plant properties of penicillin started the gold rush in
Maxine Forshaw - Editor extracts, moulds), tonics (eg metals), and therapeutic search for, and isolation and characterisation
aerosols (eg sulphurous baths). It wasn’t until the of, antibiotics that we have grown to rely
CONTENTS early 1900s that synthetic antibacterials were upon. Medical procedures such as caesarean
produced – sulphonamides – a class that is still in sections, routine joint replacements,
Antibiotic ResistAnce: is it the use today. Famously, Alexander Fleming published chemotherapy/cancer treatment, transplant
end of An 80-yeAR-old Ally? 1 the antibacterial properties of a mould broth in a medicine, cystic fibrosis care and dentistry
Digital transformation and the 1929 paper that set the stage, in the early 1940s, for have all become reliant on the efficacy of
customer 5 Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, Norman Heatley, Dorothy
Microplastics in drinking water antibiotics for their routine use. The rapid
workshop 6 Hodgkin and their team at the University of Oxford rise of drug-resistant infections means that
WWT Drinking Water Quality to purify and characterise the active ingredient, (presently) routine ops could, in the future,
conference 7 penicillin. Their research set the stage for the mass carry an unacceptably high risk to the survival
FWR news 8
Welcome to Oliver Grievson 8 production of penicillin which, not coincidently, came of the patient should they contract an infection.
Goodbye to Steve Bungay 8 just in time to save the lives of many thousands of As a result, these routine ops might only be
Allied troops during the Second World War. performed when the cost of not doing so is
www.fwr.org 1 Issue 1 February 2020