Tyler Burslie's reading response to chapters 1&2 of The Antibiotic Paradox

I thought the first two chapters in TAP were interesting. I have heard of mutant chains of bacteria before, but never really understood why they were evolving. The accident at the Coconut Grove gave us the chance to use penicillin on a some what large scale. The accident also helped us develop new safety laws for buildings.

Alexander Flemming warned the public and the medical community as to what could happen if penicillin wasn't regulated in the proper doses. Like all great things, there is an equal, but negative aspect in their relationship with humans. We had found the "miracle" drug, we used it liberally with no thought to what could happen if we misused it. Like a pin being pulled from a grenade, it was only a matter of time before the misuse would explode into a problem both nationally and internationally.

Chapter Two was more interesting. It broke topics down and showed such things as derivatives of antibiotics. I am a technically minded person so I take interest into how things work or how they came to be. The pictures that were included in chapter two helped to show what exactly the author was trying to convey through text. I personally liked the pictures on pages 30and 31 as well as the chronological chart on page 51.