Includes bibliographical references (pages 107-108) and index.

For many years, we thought we had infectious diseases licked. No longer were microscopic bacteria inflicting the death toll that plagued the United States prior to the discovery of antibiotics more than sixty years ago. Antibiotics, the drugs used to treat bacterial infections, were the magic cure-all-- or so we thought. Scientists never expected the bacteria to fight back. Now we have to face superbugs. Superbugs are strains of infection-causing bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. Some superbug infections are virtually untreatable. They can cause ear infections that won't go away, skin infections that send professional football players to the hospital, and food poisoning that kills. Not all bacteria are superbugs. In fact, most are harmless. But one in one thousand bacteria species is harmful to humans. Superbugs strike back explains how superbugs came to be, what scientists are doing to fight them, and how you can protect yourself against these microscopic menaces.

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