A roundup of news on drug resistance and other topics in global health.

CDDEP Director Ramanan Laxminarayan was a featured contributor this week in a New York Times “Room for Debate” discussion on antibiotic resistance. Seven contributors, including researchers, doctors and experts from the public sector, answered the question “How we can avoid a future where antibiotics are no longer useful?” To combat the problem, wealthier countries will need to reduce their own use of antibiotics, setting an example for lower-income countries. Laxminarayan argues that a global agreement treating antibiotic effectiveness as a global public good would allow for the creation of better resistance surveillance mechanisms, more advanced research, and the coordination of global efforts against resistance. [The New York Times]

Bioartist Anna Dumitriu, whose pieces focus on microbiology and resistant bacteria, recently spoke with CDDEP about her work and her upcoming exhibit on tuberculosis. [CDDEP]

Fast Company’s Co.EXIST blog highlighted the Lancet Commission on Investing in Health’s Global Health 2035 report this week, writing that investing in global health now could produce returns that Wall Street only dreams about. [Co.EXIST]

In an article for the New England Journal of Medicine this week Disease Control Priorities Network collaborator Prabhat Jha and Sir Richard Peto, a member of CDDEP’s Board of Directors, examine the global effects of smoking, quitting and taxing tobacco. [NEJM]

With mobile technology devices proven to be sources of disease transmission, the New York Times offers up some useful tips for disinfection without causing technological damage. [AJIC, The New York Times]

An article in the New England Journal of Medicine argues that charging a user fee on the non-human use of antibiotics would have several distinct advantages over the bans currently in effect in many countries. [NEJM]

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, a strain of Gram-negative bacteria resistant to nearly all known antibiotics, have spread to 46 states in 12 years, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [Business Insider]

Cheap health clinics run by community health workers have helped to reduce child mortality in Ethiopia by 60% in two decades, keeping children up to date on their vaccines and providing treatment for malaria, diarrhea and respiratory infections. [NPR]

The Overseas Development Institute’s Future Diets report estimates that one billion adults in developing countries are overweight and obese, which represents a fourfold increase in the past 30 years. [BBC]

Why do you catch a common cold? AsapScience’s animated video explains.

Image via NIAID/Flickr.