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  • On this episode of China Uncensored,

  • the exceptionally dangerous thing China is doing that could accidentally kill millions

  • of people...

  • and not just inside China.

  • Hi, welcome to China Uncensored,

  • I'm your host Chris Chappell.

  • Bacteria.

  • Basically the bad guys from the Matrix.

  • Only real.

  • And everywhere.

  • A hundred years ago,

  • outbreaks of infectious disease were fairly common.

  • But then better sanitation and the discovery of antibiotics changed that.

  • Which is how we can have a world as connected as it is today,

  • without this happening.

  • "The most optimistic projection that USAMRIID is willing to make for the spread of the virus

  • is this.

  • 24 hours.

  • 36 hours.

  • 48 hours."

  • OK, I know the movie Outbreak was about a virus,

  • and I'm talking about bacteria.

  • But they can both kill people following the same terrible pattern.

  • Anyway, antibiotics have saved a lot of lives.

  • But there's a problem.

  • Over time, bacteria can evolve resistance to antibiotics.

  • Which means you have to use stronger antibiotics.

  • And when the bacteria become immune to that,

  • you have to use stronger antibiotics.

  • And so on.

  • It's like that episode of the Simpsons where Springfield solves its pigeon problem with

  • lizards that eat the pigeons.

  • "What happens when we're overrun with lizards?"

  • "No problem, we just release Chinese lizard snakes.

  • They'll wipe out the lizards."

  • "But aren't the snakes even worse?"

  • "Yes, but we're prepared for that.

  • We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat."

  • "But then we're stuck with gorillas!" "No, that's the beautiful part.

  • When wintertime rolls around the gorillas simply freeze to death."

  • But what happens when you don't have the snake-eating gorilla version of an antibiotic?

  • Well, the world enters what scientists call "the post-antibiotic era."

  • It's a time when bacteria have evolved resistance to all forms of antibiotics.

  • The BBC says this "could plunge medicine back into the dark ages."

  • Which is why I've come up with "Dr." Chappell's Live Leeches.

  • Guaranteed to suck out all the bad humors.

  • So unless you're in the leech business,

  • this is something you really, really don't want to happen.

  • Well, haha, it's happening.

  • "The very last line of defense,

  • the last drug doctors used when all other antibiotics failed,

  • no longer works because bacteria have become resistant to it

  • things like surgery will no longer be effective."

  • The drug he's talking about

  • the last line of defense

  • is called colistin.

  • It was first introduced in 1959,

  • but hardly ever used,

  • even though it's really effective against bacteria.

  • That's because it's also really effective at destroying your kidneys.

  • But it's still useful in those rare cases where all other antibiotics failed.

  • Fortunately, since Colistin wasn't used much,

  • it also meant bacteria hadn't built up resistance to Colistin.

  • Did you notice how I said all that in the past tense?

  • It turns out, Chinese farmers have been feeding Colistin to farm animals for more than a decade.

  • You see, low levels of antibiotics can help fatten animals up,

  • plus keep them alive in the really, really unsanitary conditions of a factory farm.

  • This unnecessary use of antibiotics is a very short-sighted way of doing things,

  • but it's done all over the world

  • usually with other antibiotics.

  • But because almost no one else uses Colistin,

  • it also means it's cheap.

  • Perfect for the poorly regulated pig farms of China.

  • Except, according to a report in the Lancet Infectious Disease journal,

  • this has led to a gene that grants immunity to "the last line of defense."

  • Researchers first discovered it in 2013 when they found E. coli bacteria that couldn't

  • be killed with Colistin in a pig on a farm near Shanghai.

  • Then, they found bacteria with colistin resistance in supermarkets and slaughterhouses,

  • and even in hospital patients.

  • That's right, it's already spread to humans.

  • And this new resistant gene discovered in China is not in the bacteria's chromosomes.

  • It's in the bacteria's plasmid

  • which means it can be easily passed around to other species of bacteria.

  • The transfer rate has been called "ridiculously high."

  • In fact, this resistant gene already been discovered in Malaysia, Laos, and now, Europe.

  • The fear is this new gene will get passed around along with other antibiotic resistant

  • genes.

  • That could eventually create a pan-drug resistant bacteria.

  • In other words, a bacteria that can't be killed by anything we throw at it.

  • According to the authors of this report,

  • "pan-drug resistance is inevitable and will ultimately become global."

  • Doctors will "face increasing numbers of patients for whom we will need to say,

  • 'Sorry, there is nothing I can do to cure your infection.'"

  • Now you might be asking,

  • well why don't we just make new, more powerful antibiotics?

  • Surely there's some kind of gorilla-eating shark,

  • or shark-crushing meteor we can use, right?

  • Well it turns out,

  • making a new antibiotic is extraordinarily difficult.

  • It's been 30 years since the last antibiotic was created.

  • Early this year,

  • researchers at the Northeastern University in Boston said they may have at last discovered

  • a new one that could help push back the post-antibiotic era.

  • But it hasn't gone through human trials yet.

  • And it can only push back the inevitable.

  • Every year bacteria become more resistant to the antibiotics we have.

  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that by 2050,

  • antibiotic resistant bacteria will kill 10 million people.

  • Worst case scenario?

  • A global epidemic that can't be stopped by any form of antibiotics.

  • On the bright side though,

  • this isn't the first time something like this has happened.

  • In the early 2000s,

  • a strain of staph infection developed an immunity to an antibiotic similar to Colistin,

  • and the gene was also on its plasmid.

  • Scientists then had the same fears.

  • In 15 years, there's only been 14 infections in the US.

  • The difference, though, is that this time,

  • the resistant gene could spread more quickly because of Colistin's widespread use on Chinese

  • pig farms.

  • One piece of good news is that the US doesn't import pork from China.

  • In fact, you're most likely to eat tilapia imported from China.

  • Which is safe, right?

  • What, what's that, Shelley?

  • Tilapia feed premixed with colistin?!

  • So what do you think?

  • Is this the start of the post-antibiotic era?

  • Leave your comments below and share this episode!

  • Make it go viral!

  • Thanks for watching this episode of China Uncensored.

  • Till next time,

  • stay safe and healthy.

  • Once again I'm

  • (cough cough)

On this episode of China Uncensored,

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止められない疫病が中国で始まるかもしれない|無修正版チャイナ (The Unstoppable Epidemic Could Start in China | China Uncensored)

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    張強 に公開 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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