Use sparingly and with care - An alternative to antibiotics

The discovery of an effective alternative to antibiotics is very welcome.

That the new drug seems resistant to superbugs makes it even more so. That it may help avert a situation where many diseases now easily cured might again become life-threatening illnesses almost puts the discovery in a category of its own.

Conventional antibiotics were steadily losing their effectiveness as bugs, overexposed to the drugs over long periods of time, became resistant to them. Overuse of traditional antibiotics in food production and over- prescribing by some doctors threatened to reverse one of the great advances in science and medicine in recent centuries.