Hello!

Summer has officially begun here in the U.S., and it's hot, hot, hot - at least it is in California where I live!

This week I read several disturbing articles on the rapid development of different diseases that are fast becoming resistant to the antibiotics that are used to cure them. We've become complacent about our use of antibiotics, and are pretty much turning a blind eye to the fact that within our lifetimes the rate of death associated with antibiotic-resistant strains is climbing steeply.

This being so, I thought I'd do a short article series on antibiotics - what they are, how they work, and what our future holds in regards to resistant disease.

To start us off - here's an introductory article on the subject of antibiotics!

Here's the latest article from the Biology site at BellaOnline.com.

Antibiotics - An Introduction
Hailed as "miracle drugs," antibiotics have been used for decades to cure a wide variety of illnesses. What do you know about antibiotics and their history?

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art14362.asp

Please visit biology.bellaonline.com for even more great content about Biology.

To participate in free, fun online discussions, this site has a community forum all about Biology located here -

http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=240

I hope to hear from you sometime soon, either in the forum or in response to this email message. I thrive on your feedback!

Have fun passing this message along to family and friends, because we all love free knowledge!

Deborah Watson-Novacek, Biology Editor
http://biology.bellaonline.com

One of hundreds of sites at BellaOnline.com