现代医学最伟大的成就之一,就是让传染病在世界上大部分地区不再成为对人类生命健康的重大威胁。以美国为例,在100年前,导致死亡的3种最主要的疾病都是传染病:肺炎、肺结核和腹泻;而现在,3大生命杀手则是心脏病、癌症和中风。大规模传染病的流行,古人称之为“瘟疫”。历史上,人类曾经饱受瘟疫的痛苦,只有在现代科学出现以后,人类在与瘟神的较量中才逐渐占了上风。 One of the greatest achievements of modern medicine is that infectious diseases no longer become a significant threat to human health in most parts of the world. In the United States, for example, the three most important diseases that led to death 100 years ago were contagious diseases: pneumonia, tuberculosis and diarrhea. Now, the three killers of life are heart disease, cancer and stroke. The prevalence of large-scale infectious diseases, ancients called “plague.” Historically, mankind had suffered from the plague. Only after the advent of modern science did mankind gradually gain the upper hand over the plague.