Verden går imod et post-antibiotisk periode hvor almindelige infektioner igen vil være dødbringende. Hvis de aktuelle tendenser fortsætter vil avancerede behandlinger som organtransplantation, kunstige led, kemoterapi og prænatal behandling blive vanskeligere eller endda for farlige at gennemføre. Dermed kan tiden for moderne medicin, som vi kender den, være slut.
Så alvorligt udtalte dr. Margaret Chan sig sidste år på vegne af WHO.
Vi bringer hendes udtalelse på engelsk og henviser til en uddybende artikel på BBCs hjemmeside
“The world is heading towards a post-antibiotic era in which common infections will once again kill. If current trends continue, sophisticated interventions, like organ transplantation, joint replacements, cancer chemotherapy, and care of pre-term infants, will become more difficult or even too dangerous to undertake. This may even bring the end of modern medicine as we know it.”
That’s what the Director-General of the World Health Organization said last April when she appeared before the United Nations. Dr Margaret Chan wanted to warn of what many deem to be one of the greatest threats to global health today: the increasingly common problem of infections that do not respond to antibiotic treatment. It sounds alarmist, but it might actually not be alarmist enough.
