Dan Rather Reports 2006: 6x1

Addicted to Antibiotics

Dan Rather Reports examines the alarming consequences of the overuse of antibiotics. Every year, more than 90,000 Americans die from superbugs that antibiotics cannot treat; these antibiotic-resistant infections, caused directly by the overuse of antibiotics, cost us more than $35 billion a year. We’ll also investigate the role that doctors, patients, and American culture itself play in precipitating this crisis.

But while resistance continues to threaten American lives, one country has managed to remain a safe haven from superbugs. We visit Norway, a global leader in prudent antibiotic use, and the nation with the lowest rate of antibiotic-resistant infections in the world. Dan Rather investigates how Norway has achieved what for so many others, would be nothing more than a pipe dream.