The Eyes of Nye

Antibiotics (1x9)

Air date: May 29, 2005

The battle between microbes and humans is far from over. In fact, deaths from infectious diseases have increased since the 1980s. Some of the rise is due to new "bugs" such as HIV and hepatitis C, but the alarming increase in antibiotic resistance is also responsible. Bill talks with experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about new narrow-spectrum antibiotics and "bacteriocins" and demonstrates just how important hand-washing really is in the fight against germs.