The development of antimicrobial agents, past, present and future

Abstract

Few developments in the history of medicine have had such a profound effect upon human life and society as the development of the power to control infections due to micro-organisms. The impact has been felt in many ways. The developed countries have been freed from the devastating plagues that in earlier days decimated the population leaving a trail of misery and social disruption. No longer is surgery a desperate gamble with human life. The perils of childbirth are greatly lessened with the control of puerperal fever. The death of children and young adults from meningitis, tuberculosis and septicaemia, once commonplace, is now unusual. All these benefits are now accepted without question, but they have changed the fabric of our lives. The control of infectious disease has also brought its own social and medical problems. Within our own highly developed society the conquest of pneumonia, sometimes called ‘the old man’s friend’, has helped to raise the expectation of life. People live longer and the aged form an increasing part of our population. Even so microbial pathogens still have the capacity to spring unpleasant surprises on the world. The current epidemic of the viral infection that causes the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS, will require the combined efforts of public health officials, educationists, research scientists and the medical profession to contain it.