#what happened last week

[zimtgruen]

We are running out of antibiotics. Sham Jaff tells us in her newsletter “what happened last week” why that's a global crisis

What happened

Antibiotics are losing their power (meaning, we are becoming resistant to them), and the world is running out of new antibiotics, says the World Health Organization (WHO). That means we’re heading toward a future where even a small cut could be deadly again.

Refresher: What are antibiotics?

Antibiotics are medicines that kill or stop the growth of bacteria. Before antibiotics, even a small cut or infection could be deadly. Today, they save millions of lives, and are used to treat bacterial infections like pneumonia, urinary tract infections (UTIs), strep throat, and tuberculosis.

Why this matters: The WHO says that antibiotic resistance (AMR) is killing more than one million people a year (some say the number is much higher), and expects that number to surpass cancer as the top cause of death by 2050. For comparison: As of 2022, around ten million people died of cancer.

As with everything, not everyone is affected equally—it affects some people much worse than others, specifically children in poorer countries. A study in The Lancet found that nearly all children under 5 who die from AMR-related infections are from low- and middle-income countries, and children living in African countries below the Sahara desert are 58 times more likely to die from antibiotic resistance than children in wealthy countries.

Tell me more

There are many factors leading to antibiotic resistance.

We don't use antibiotics right. Many people take antibiotics without prescriptions or for the wrong illnesses (e.g., viruses like the flu). Doctors sometimes overprescribe broad-spectrum antibiotics, which kill too many bacteria—including the good ones—allowing resistant ones to take over. This happens everywhere; in Germany, too.

Not everyone has good healthcare. Many people in low-income countries can’t afford full antibiotic treatments, leading to incomplete doses that make bacteria resistant. Fake or low-quality antibiotics are also a problem.

Farm animals are loaded with antibiotics. Farmers use massive amounts of antibiotics on animals to make them grow faster. These drugs leak into water, soil, and food, creating resistant bacteria.

Dirty water. Dirty water and lack of sanitation help spread resistant bacteria. Handwashing alone could reduce infections dramatically.

How is AMR diagnosed?

It looks like a normal infection at first—fever, swelling, or pain—but doesn’t get better with antibiotics. Diagnosing AMR requires lab tests, where bacteria are exposed to different antibiotics to see which ones they survive. Some hospitals use DNA testing to check for resistance genes—but not every country has access to this tech. The earlier AMR is caught, the better the chance of treating it.

Dig deeper: Global Press Journal reporters investigated AMR in seven countries—showing how antibiotic resistance is already a daily nightmare in places like Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Puerto Rico. For example, in Zimbabwe, 93% of the population in the country has no access to health insurance, half of all Ugandans find it difficult to pay for their medical visits, and in Puerto Rico, "there is a belief that any little thing can be solved with antibiotics," one says.

What can be done?

Governments need better laws to control antibiotic sales.

Hospitals & doctors must stop overprescribing antibiotics.

People need to stop demanding antibiotics for colds and flu.

The food industry must cut antibiotic use in animals.

But—and this is important—AMR is much more urgent in poorer countries. Wealthy nations can afford new treatments. Poorer ones face the worst consequences. Without global action, AMR will widen global health inequalities even more.

"Fun" fact: Alexander Fleming—the scientist who discovered penicillin—warned us about this in 1945. He predicted that if we weren’t careful, antibiotics would stop working because of overuse. He was right. Now, we have to decide if we’re actually going to fix it.

[idlestories]

me every single time i’m on the edge of going fully insane about a new fandom: haha what if i just checked ao3. just for fun. just to see what there is. i won’t save anything or get in too deep i’ll just do some recon. i’ll just go see. for fun

[inkskinned]

the thing about art is that it was always supposed to be about us, about the human-ness of us, the impossible and beautiful reality that we (for centuries) have stood still, transfixed by music. that we can close our eyes and cry about the same book passage; the events of which aren't real and never happened. theatre in shakespeare's time was as real as it is now; we all laugh at the same cue (pursued by bear), separated hundreds of years apart.

three years ago my housemates were jamming outdoors, just messing around with their instruments, mostly just making noise. our neighbors - shy, cautious, a little sheepish - sat down and started playing. i don't really know how it happened; i was somehow in charge of dancing, barefoot and laughing - but i looked up, and our yard was full of people. kids stacked on the shoulders of parents. old couples holding hands. someone had brought sidewalk chalk; our front walk became a riot of color. someone ran in with a flute and played the most astounding solo i've ever heard in my life, upright and wiggling, skipping as she did so. she only paused because the violin player was kicking his heels up and she was laughing too hard to continue.

two weeks ago my friend and i met in the basement of her apartment complex so she could work out a piece of choreography. we have a language barrier - i'm not as good at ASL as i'd like to be (i'm still learning!) so we communicate mostly through the notes app and this strange secret language of dancers - we have the same movement vocabulary. the two of us cracking jokes at each other, giggling. there were kids in the basement too, who had been playing soccer until we took up the far corner of the room. one by one they made their slow way over like feral cats - they laid down, belly-flat against the floor, just watching. my friend and i were not in tutus - we were in slouchy shirts and leggings and socks. nothing fancy. but when i asked the kids would you like to dance too? they were immediately on their feet and spinning. i love when people dance with abandon, the wild and leggy fervor of childhood. i think it is gorgeous.

their adults showed up eventually, and a few of them said hey, let's not bother the nice ladies. but they weren't bothering us, they were just having fun - so. a few of the adults started dancing awkwardly along, and then most of the adults. someone brought down a better sound system. someone opened a watermelon and started handing out slices. it was 8 PM on a tuesday and nothing about that day was particularly special; we might as well party.

one time i hosted a free "paint along party" and about 20 adults worked quietly while i taught them how to paint nessie. one time i taught community dance classes and so many people showed up we had to move the whole thing outside. we used chairs and coatracks to balance. one time i showed up to a random band playing in a random location, and the whole thing got packed so quickly we had to open every door and window in the place.

i don't think i can tell you how much people want to be making art and engaging with art. they want to, desperately. so many people would be stunning artists, but they are lied to and told from a very young age that art only matters if it is planned, purposeful, beautiful. that if you have an idea, you need to be able to express it perfectly. this is not true. you don't get only 1 chance to communicate. you can spend a lifetime trying to display exactly 1 thing you can never quite language. you can just express the "!!??!!!"-ing-ness of being alive; that is something none of us really have a full grasp on creating. and even when we can't make what we want - god, it feels fucking good to try. and even just enjoying other artists - art inherently rewards the act of participating.

i wasn't raised wealthy. whenever i make a post about art, someone inevitably says something along the lines of well some of us aren't that lucky. i am not lucky; i am dedicated. i have a chronic condition, my hands are constantly in pain. i am not neurotypical, nor was i raised safe. i worked 5-7 jobs while some of these memories happened. i chose art because it mattered to me more than anything on this fucking planet - i would work 80 hours a week just so i could afford to write in 3 of them.

and i am still telling you - if you are called to make art, you are called to the part of you that is human. you do not have to be good at it. you do not have to have enormous amounts of privilege. you can just... give yourself permission. you can just say i'm going to make something now and then - go out and make it. raquel it won't be good though that is okay, i don't make good things every time either. besides. who decides what good even is?

you weren't called to make something because you wanted it to be good, you were called to make something because it is a basic instinct. you were taught to judge its worth and over-value perfection. you are doing something impossible. a god's ability: from nothing springs creation.

a few months ago i found a piece of sidewalk chalk and started drawing. within an hour i had somehow collected a small classroom of young children. their adults often brought their own chalk. i looked up and about fifteen families had joined me from around the block. we drew scrangly unicorns and messed up flowers and one girl asked me to draw charizard. i am not good at drawing. i basically drew an orb with wings. you would have thought i drew her the mona lisa. she dragged her mother over and pointed and said look! look what she drew for me and, in the moment, i admit i flinched (sorry, i don't -). but the mother just grinned at me. he's beautiful. and then she sat down and started drawing.

someone took a picture of it. it was in the local newspaper. the summary underneath said joyful and spontaneous artwork from local artists springs up in public gallery. in the picture, a little girl covered in chalk dust has her head thrown back, delighted. laughing.

[vypridae]

misc sun x moon im soo normal (lie)

[hinamie]

sidelong

[pencilscratchins]

sorry i stopped posting, i got medicated and also engaged

[blaqcats-fics]

been thinking about jason being petty towards bruce. like, oh, you spend time with your other kids, but not me? tire privileges revoked! it would be over stupid shit too.

like there’s one time bruce decides to take damien to the movies, and jason is just beside himself.

like the conversation would be like:

JASON: So, let me get this straight—you took Damian to a movie.

BRUCE: He asked.

JASON: Oh, and I wouldn’t have wanted to see Kung Fu Panda 4 with you?!

BRUCE: You were busy.

JASON: Busy taking down a cartel. Which, by the way, I learned from you. I deserve quality time!

BRUCE: Jason—

JASON: No. No excuses. You’ll learn.

Jason storms off. Five minutes later, an alert pops up on the Batcomputer.

BATCOMPUTER: Warning: Batmobile rear tires have been removed.

BRUCE: …Jason.

Cut to Jason outside, rolling two Batmobile tires away, cackling.

[fishfingersandscarves]

painted my uncle marvin :)

[fake-diary]

Day 550

About to enter a tournament soon!!!!!! Hope I do better than last time!!!!!

We do not remember days. We remember moments.

- Cesare Pavese

[justheblueberry]

there are those for whom we weep, the young, the bright, the fair

[hiding-under-the-willow]

anyways. What

[peach-sea]

Cringetober Day 1. Screenshot Redraw

inspired by this early eah scene where raven "lets her bad side out" playing guitar and my cousin and I go "apple's probably losing it" and then they cut to her and she's making this face ↓

[learnelle]

My favourite spot in Dublin 🖤

[sualne]

carnis au or also 'one meat', have some lore!

[howly]

headcanon: the boring perfect self control vampire bella thinks she has is a LIE and at one point she caught human scent mid-hunt and snapped. it made her so wild she had to be restrained to the point where things got ugly

i know edward would never dare to do it and meyer would never dare write it and in canon newborn vamp bella would be far stronger than him...

actually. you know who would be stronger than one young vampire? two old vampires. and who would act practical in a critical situation? emmett

imagine edward and bella heading out for a hunt and emmett being like "do you guys mind if i tag along? i feel like snacking". bella's a little mad at the prospect of suddenly having a third wheel (homegirl wasn't planning on just. hunting) but alice gets a weird hunch and goes "no, no, em should go with you" ok nostradamus. he's going.

fast forward they're in the mountain. bella finds having emmett third-wheeling is not half bad. in emmett's head, lowkey it's bella who's the third wheel after so many decades of him hunting together with edward. but nevertheless, it's so fun with her around. all is good until they catch the scent of an entire group of friends hiking just a couple of miles from here, away from all civilization. emmett and edward stop in their tracks, ready to turn around. bella, her guard down, loses it and stars running towards the group, so they have no choice but to charge at her. while strugging to keep her in place, they try to talk her down but she doesn't listen. she doesn't care, she's strong enough to fight them off, and she fights and claws and hisses and breaks bones of whoever gets in her way because there are so many pulses just a few minutes' run away from her and their scent is so sweet and burning and calling, calling, calling to her

while struggling to restrain her, emmett grunts "we have to disarm her". edward catches the image in his head and shouts "no! you can't literally disarm bella!". well, how the hell do you expect us to stop her from massacring all those hikers? we'll just put her back together afterwards. duh!, emmett thinks, and knows he has to act fast so he goes in while bella's busy yanking away from edward's grip and tears off a limb. or two. all 3 of them may or may not be screaming.

a few moments later edward's pinning bella to the ground, holding her face between his palms, forcing her to look at him. her thrashing is not so effective with limited body parts. part of him wants to yell at emmett but that's kind of low priority. he's holding on to the last of his composure while he looks down at bella's feral expression and chants 'baby. i'm so sorry but i'll give you your leg back after you calm down a bit. i won't be able to outrun you if you go chasing after those people now. please calm down. i love you. hold your breath'

just then she listens, stops breathing and her vision refocuses. for the first time she realizes she was on her way to slaughter a bunch of strangers and she broke the arm of the man she loves at least three times when he tried to stop her. she wants to open her mouth and apologize but that will require her to breathe and possibly go crazy with thirst again. so she stares back at edward's panicked eyes and nods at him, her own red eyes just as full of terror.

then she looks over his shoulder and sees emmett waving her severed leg in the air like it's a baseball bat. "hey, did you know that rose wears the same shoe size?"

[tunastime]

in the span of 48 hours I went from being indifferent about helsknight to not being able to stop thinking about him. who's out here putting curses on me. speak up