I see patients with infections caused by multi-resistant microorganisms on ward rounds every week in Southampton General Hospital. We are resorting to older, less effective, more toxic antibiotics in many cases and sometimes importing unlicensed experimental drugs from overseas. Infectious diseases has long been neglected as a medical speciality and research into new antibiotics is alarmingly underfunded. Perhaps it will take the tragic untimely death of a celebrity to awaken the general public and our politicians to the threat we are facing.