Scientists attending a recent meeting of the American Society for Microbiology reported they had uncovered a highly disturbing trend.
參加最近一次美國微生物學會會議的科學家報告說，他們發現了一個非常令人不安的動勢。
They revealed that bacteria containing a gene known as mcr-1 – which confers resistance to the antibiotic colistin – had spread round the world at an alarming rate since its original discovery 18 months earlier. In one area of China, it was found that 25% of hospital patients now carried the gene.
他們發現，含有一種名為mcr - 1基因的細菌在18個月前初次發現後，以驚人的速度傳遍世界。在中國的一個地區，有25%的醫院病人攜帶該基因。
Colistin is known as the 「antibiotic of last resort」. In many parts of the world doctors have turned to its use because patients were no longer responding to any other antimicrobial agent. Now resistance to its use is spreading across the globe.
粘菌素被稱為「抗生素的最後一道防線」。在世界上許多地方，醫生們已經開始使用它，因為病人不再對任何其他的抗生素作出反應。現在對其使用的抗藥性正在全球蔓延。
In the words of England’s chief medical officer, Sally Davies: 「The world is facing an antibiotic apocalypse.」
用英國首席醫療官Sally Davies的話來說:「世界正面臨抗生素的末日。
Unless action is taken to halt the practices that have allowed antimicrobial resistance to spread and ways are found to develop new types of antibiotics, we could return to the days when routine operations, simple wounds or straightforward infections could pose real threats to life, she warns.
她警告說:「除非採取行動停止那些允許抗生素耐藥性傳播的做法，以及開發新型抗生素，否則我們會回到常規手術、簡單傷口或直接感染都可能對生命構成真正威脅的日子。」
That terrifying prospect will be the focus of a major international conference to be held in Berlin this week. Organised by the UK government, the Wellcome Trust, the UN and several other national governments, the meeting will be attended by scientists, health officers, pharmaceutical chiefs and politicians.
這一可怕的預測將成為本周在柏林舉行的主要國際會議的焦點。這場由英國政府、惠康基金會、聯合國以及其他幾個國家政府組織的會議將由科學家、衛生官員、製藥公司負責人和政治家出席參加。
Its task is to try to accelerate measures to halt the spread of drug resistance, which now threatens to remove many of the major weapons currently deployed by doctors in their war against disease.
它的任務是試圖加快採取制止耐藥性擴散的措施，而這種耐藥性正摧毀著醫生們在對抗疾病的戰爭中所部署的主要武器。
The arithmetic is stark and disturbing, as the conference organisers make clear. At present about 700,000 people a year die from drug-resistant infections. However, this global figure is growing relentlessly and could reach 10 million a year by 2050.
正如會議組織者所闡明的那樣，相關數據是那麼明顯並且令人不安。目前每年有70萬人死於耐藥性感染。然而，這個全球性的數字正在無情地增長，到2050年將達到每年1000萬。
The danger, say scientists, is one of the greatest that humanity has faced in recent times. In a drug-resistant world, many aspects of modern medicine would simply become impossible.
科學家們說，它是人類最近面臨的最嚴重的威脅之一。在一個抗藥性的世界裡，現代醫學的許多技術將變得毫無用處。
Such as abdominal surgery or the removal of a patient’s appendix. Without antibiotics to protect them during these procedures, people will die of peritonitis or other infections. The world will face the same risks as it did before Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928.
以腹部手術或切除病人的闌尾為例。在這些過程中，如果沒有有效的抗生素來保護他們，人們就會死於腹膜炎或其他感染。世界將面臨和亞歷山大·弗萊明1928年發現青黴素之前一樣的風險。
One of the biggest problems we face over the spread of antimicrobial resistance. One Swedish study followed a group of young backpackers who went off on holiday to different parts of the world. None had resistant bacteria in their guts when they left. When they returned a quarter of them had picked up resistant bugs. That shows the pervasive nature of the problem we face.
我們面臨的最大問題之一是抗生素耐藥性的傳播。在瑞典的一項研究中，一群年輕的背包客在假期去了世界各地。當他們離開時，沒有攜帶抗藥性細菌。當他們返回的時候，四分之一的人已經攜帶了抗藥性基因。這顯示出我們所面臨的問題的普遍性。
Tourism, personal hygiene, farming, medical practice – all are affected by the issue of antibiotic resistance.
旅遊、個人衛生、農業、醫療實踐——所有這些都受到抗生素耐藥性問題的影響。
（全文共447個詞）
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