Imagine being prescribed antibiotics for a serious infection... only to discover they no longer work. It may sound like a future problem, but it's already happening. Antimicrobial resistance is on the rise, allowing the bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites that cause disease to outsmart the medicines designed to kill them.

Imagine being prescribed antibiotics for a serious infection... only to discover they no longer work. It may sound like a future problem, but it's already happening. Antimicrobial resistance is on the rise, allowing the bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites that cause disease to outsmart the medicines designed to kill them. The Conversation warns this growing threat could make once-routine infections far more difficult—and even impossible—to treat. Just how serious is the problem, and what can be done to stop it?  Guest: John Paul Makumbi Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Microbiology, Stellenbosch University