Florida high school students learn to tackle the threat of superbugs

In the fight against superbugs – microbes that are resistant to multiple medicines like antibiotics and pose a global public health threat – researchers are working in labs to create remedies. But just as important is consumer education, especially among the younger generations who may not understand the consequences. That is why University of Florida researchers are bringing lessons right to high school students in Alachua County.  

“Antibiotics are in every household, but antimicrobial resistance is nowhere in the public school curriculum,” said Sanil Nadar, a biology teacher at P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School and a Ph.D. student in the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences’ (UF/IFAS) Department of Microbiology and Cell Science. “That has to change.” 

To help more young people understand their role in preventing the spread of antimicrobial resistance, Nadar and Daniel Czyz, Ph.D. – an associate professor in the UF Department of Microbiology and Cell Science – created a weeklong module for a local ninth-grade biology class at P.K. Yonge. The lesson plan introduces students to antimicrobial resistance – the ability of bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites to resist medical treatment. The effectiveness of the lessons was published in a study released Tuesday in the Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education. 

Antimicrobial resistance is among the top global public health threats and was responsible for 1.27 million deaths in 2019, according to the World Health Organization. 

Superbugs that arise from this resistance make infections harder to treat, and the economic cost is significant. The World Bank Group estimates that antimicrobial resistance could be responsible for $1 trillion in additional health care costs to the global economy by 2050. 

One of the ways antimicrobial resistance develops is through the misuse of antibiotics, such as not taking the complete course of antibiotics or treating viral infections incorrectly with antibiotics, Nadar said. 

As reported in the study, the classroom lessons had a significant impact on helping students understand why antimicrobial resistance is dangerous in the U.S. and worldwide, and it demonstrated the importance of potential therapies like immunotherapy, bacteriophages and nanoparticles. Students conducted lab experiments to test for antimicrobial resistance, learning to use both theoretical and hands-on methods. 

Students even demonstrated an increased understanding of the impact of science, with one student saying that science was “so ‘cool’ that she wanted to pursue it as a career,” Czyz said. 

The next step is to expand the pilot program to public schools across various sites in Florida, with the hope that this could lead to inclusion in statewide – and ultimately nationwide – public school life science programming, Nadar said. 

“This was a perfect example of how education can be a powerful tool in the fight against antimicrobial resistance,” Czyz said.