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Despite all the progress of modern medicine, we face the future knowing that science will never defeat viruses and bacteria. They are the dominant species on the planet. New and deadly viruses will continue to emerge in the 21st century, and killer diseases we thought we had defeated will return. New plagues of previously unknown infectious diseases will continue to emerge just as AIDS, Ebola, Lassa, and Hanta have in the last few decades - viruses for which we have no vaccine or cure. And antibiotic resistance - the inevitable result of the evolution of bacteria - will bring back old diseases like Tuberculosis (TB) in new, untreatable forms. Highlights the struggle of scientists to understand the microbes causing disease, and find new ways of combating our oldest enemies in the 21st century. |
