远古以来，传染病对人类历史的影响可能远比已知的灾害大得多。1918年席卷全球的流感流行使2000万-5000万的人丧生，是第一次世界大战造成死亡人数的 2-5倍。

Since time immemorial, infectious diseases have had a far greater impact on human history than any other better-known calamities have done. A pandemic of influenza that swept the globe in 1918 killed from 20 million to 50 million people—two to five times more deaths than were caused by World War I. 

无论是新老传染病，继续在全球影响平民百姓。全球每小时就有1500人因传染病死去这一事实表明，传染病依然是全球的主要死因。

Infectious diseases, whether old or new, continue to affect citizens worldwide. The fact that 1,500 people die each hour as a result of infectious diseases indicates that infectious diseases remain a dominant cause of death.

近100年里，人类开发出各种抗菌素以便控制和根除传染病。随着20世纪60年代新种类抗菌药物和疫苗的开发，科学界曾认为可以宣称战胜了致病菌。

Over the past 100 years, humans have developed various antibiotics in order to control and eradicate infectious diseases. With the development of new classes of antimicrobials and vaccines in the 1960s, the scientific community thought it could claim victory over germs.

但是50多年后我们得继续在同像疟疾、结核病、麻疹、艾滋病、禽流感等新老传染病作斗争。

Yet some 40 years later, we continue to struggle with old and new infectious diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, measles, HIV, and bird flu.

值得吸取的一个教训是：在继续研发疫苗和疗法的同时，国际社会必须在监测、检测和早期应对体系方面共同合作来同传染性疾病作斗争。

A worthwhile lesson is that, while continuing research and development of vaccines and therapies, the international community must cooperate in surveillance, testing, and early response systems to combat infectious diseases.

责任编辑：admin