Overkill: How Our Nation's Abuse of Antibiotics and Other Germ Killers Is Hurting Your Health and What You Can Do About It

Kimberly Thompson, SD'95

It's time to put the public back into public health," said HSPH's Dr. Kimberly Thompson when talking about her recently released book, Overkill: How Our Nation's Abuse of Antibiotics and Other Germ Killers is Hurting Your Health and What You Can Do About It (Rodale Press), written with Debra Fulgham Bruce. Thompson is assistant professor of risk analysis and decision science in the Department of Health Policy and Management.

"Overuse of antibiotics and other germ-killers may be opening the door to a public health crisis, and the solution lies in making sure that individuals become empowered to make better choices when they manage their risks from germs," said Thompson.

As scientists learn more about drug-resistant super-germs that continue to emerge and as they look for new, more powerful, effective pharmaceuticals to fight them, Overkill provides a hands-on guide to germ risks and what to do about them. The book offers a series of questions to help individuals characterize their personal risk profile and then suggests practical steps to take for protection from germs and from the misuse of antibiotics and antibacterial products.

Covering the spectrum of germ-related conditions, Overkill emphasizes a number of strategies that people can employ to protect themselves from germs and prevent illness, as well as ways to treat symptoms. The book also tackles germ myths, encouraging the reader to challenge misperceptions of antibiotics as magic pills that cure all.

Emphasizing basic hygiene and food safety, Overkill devotes an entire chapter to preventing food-borne illnesses, which claim the lives of approximately 5,000 Americans and make one out of every four Americans sick each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Recognizing the need for people to appreciate their own personal risks, Overkill provides a chapter with guidance for special situations, such as when caring for babies or immuno-compromised people or when living with many other people in crowded spaces, such as in a dormitory.

For more information, visit Thompson's Age of Risk Management web site at: www.aorm.com.
Courtesy of Christina Roache, Editor, Harvard Public Health NOW,
August 23, 2002.