VOA常速英语:抗生素后时代为全球医生敲响警钟

The world is entering a time when common infections caused by bacteria will be deadly.And doctors are alarmed.

“You all of a sudden understand what it was like to practice medicine maybe 50, 70, 80 years ago, when there weren’t antibiotics.”

New antibiotics are urgently needed against bacteria that pose the greatest threat to human health.Those most at risk: residents of nursing homes, hospital patients, and children.Children may have weaker immune systems than adults, and they receive smaller doses of antibiotics than adults do.

“For the longest time we’ve had a number of different antibiotics in the pipeline at any given time,and so whenever we ran out of the ability to use one, we would move to the next one."

But that’s no longer possible, in 2010, the US began work to develop new antibiotics.

“There are antibiotics in the pipeline, but the numbers are insufficient.They are insufficient to deal with the increasing rates of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.”

And they are insufficient to deal with the normal mutations.Bacteria are constantly changing to find new ways to resist the drugs that kill them.Once they develop that ability, they can pass it on so other bacteria can become drug-resistant as well.

“We are seeing greater than 2 million episodes of antibiotic resistant infections in people each year in the U.S. alone.And twenty-three thousand of these episodes result in death.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has asked hospitals and doctors to be careful not to overuse antibiotics.But beyond overuse, there are other reasons these drugs are being rendered powerless.

“Antibiotic resistance is not only being generated by using too many antibiotics,but also by spread of infection from lack of hygiene, from unintended contact with soiled surfaces,things of that sort, so the infection-control side is equally important.”

Patients can also help.On its website, the CDC says take antibiotics as prescribed and finish the prescription, even if you feel better.Still, urgent action on a global level is needed to prevent the catastrophe that a post-antibiotic era would cause.

Carol Pearson, VOA news, Washington.