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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
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