一个多世纪以前，人们发现了抗生素，并用于疾病治疗，自此，人们有了和死神抗争的一大武器。但随着时代的推进，人们不断发现了它的弊端：一方面，抗生素会养成抗药性极强的“超级细菌”，使人类再次暴露在普通感染的风险之中；另一方面，抗生素无法识别有益菌和有害菌，会导致人体菌群失衡，永久性的破坏免疫功能和神经系统。
近期，《经济学人》Espresso中就有篇短新闻讲到了抗生素的危害。
①Antibiotics were life-savers when they became available. ②Today, they are becoming killers. ③The more any antibiotic is used, the greater the chances that bacteria will develop resistance that renders it ineffective. ④Some 700,000 people succumb to antibiotic-resistant infections every year. ⑤If trends continue, that will rise to 10m deaths a year by 2050. ⑥A paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences gathered figures from 76 countries, estimating that consumption of antibiotics increased by a hefty 65% from 2000 to 2015. ⑦As in other areas, while rich countries change their behaviour, poorer ones are adopting their habits. ⑧Although developed economies cut their use of antibiotics by 4% in the 16 years to 2015, consumption soared by 75% in the rest of the world. ⑨A UN body warns that “Antimicrobial resistance will take us back to a time when people feared common infections and risked their lives from minor surgery.”
