>An order of magnitudes less important consequence of the end of antibiotics would be the end of professional sports and possibly also amateur sports. Nope. Pe

>An order of magnitudes less important consequence of the end of antibiotics would be the end of professional sports and possibly also amateur sports. Nope. Penicillin was first produced in quantity in 1942. The first Tour de France was held in 1903. Six-day track racing dates back to 1878. The Bordeaux-Paris race started in 1891 and was motor-paced for most of its history - the riders would slipstream behind cars or motorcycles, achieving tremendous speeds. The inadequate brakes and tires and the poor road surfaces of that era made road racing far more hazardous than it is today. Pre-war riders sometimes died from racing-related trauma and exhaustion, but most of them lived to a ripe old age. Antibiotic resistance is clearly a bad thing, but it has been hyped to the point of hysteria by people who don't take the long view. People didn't swaddle themselves in cotton wool before 1942, they just got on with life. Some of them died of sepsis, but poor hygiene was a far more significant cause than the lack of antibiotics.