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Article: The waning of the antibiotic age
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- May 21, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Fifty years ago it was hailed as a miracle drug which saved
millions of lives. But misuse of penicillin and other antibiotics
has meant that infectious diseases once thought conquered are on
the rise again.
Scientists yesterday called for stricter controls over the use
of antibiotics as a World Health Organisation report spoke of a
"current crisis", with the lifespans of such drugs shortening all
the time.
Infectious diseases, the main cause of premature death, kill 17
million people every year. The biggest killers are pneumonia (4.4
million), diarrhoeal diseases (3.1 million) and tuberculosis (3.1
million). All have strains which are now resistant to common
antibiotics.
While diseases like ...