Our most dangerous are invisible. In spite of medicines amazing progress in 20th century, microscopic monsters continue to stock us. Deadly new viral disease such as AIDS and ebola have no cure so far. And infectious bacteria, responsible for killers such as diphtheria and tuberculosis, are staging come back too. They have begin to develop resistance to antibiotics, the miracle drugs that doctors once hoped would consign them to history.
Risky business
To find new treatments for infectious diseases, researchers test thousands of different chemicals, one by one, on samples of bacteria that cause them. It is a time consuming task, and often a hazardous one. Testing deadly germs calls for extreme care and special precautions.
Survival expert
MRSA - Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus - is a 'super bug' which even powerful antibiotics cant destroy. The bacterium lives in hospitals, where of attacks - and skills - patients who have had operations. MRSA is so dangerous that some hospitals refuse to admit patients who have that infection. Scientists are developing drugs to combat MRSA, but these miniscule organisms learn to change their form and behaviour just as quickly as new drugs appear. Their struggle to survive is as determined as that of any other life form.
Ancient remedy
In the search for cures, medicines turn to some surprising sources. A powerful new treatment for malaria, which kills millions each year, is based on a two thousand year old Chinese herbal remedy, and taken from the common plant family Artemisia.
Persistent killers
New disease pose a constant threat to disastrous epidemics. In Africa, millions live in the fear of the ebola virus, named after a deadly outbreak in the ebola river region of Zaire in 1976. One sufferer was transferred to the capital, Kinshasa, where the disease is found to be new - and infectious enough to threaten the city's two million people. The hospital, and ebola region, were instantly sealed off. The fever kills up to 90 percent of its victims and can not be cured. It broke out again in 1995, killing most of the staff and patients at a hospital in kikwit, Zaire. So infectious is the virus that even burial parties must wear protective clothing.
Risky business
To find new treatments for infectious diseases, researchers test thousands of different chemicals, one by one, on samples of bacteria that cause them. It is a time consuming task, and often a hazardous one. Testing deadly germs calls for extreme care and special precautions.
Survival expert
MRSA - Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus - is a 'super bug' which even powerful antibiotics cant destroy. The bacterium lives in hospitals, where of attacks - and skills - patients who have had operations. MRSA is so dangerous that some hospitals refuse to admit patients who have that infection. Scientists are developing drugs to combat MRSA, but these miniscule organisms learn to change their form and behaviour just as quickly as new drugs appear. Their struggle to survive is as determined as that of any other life form.
Ancient remedy
In the search for cures, medicines turn to some surprising sources. A powerful new treatment for malaria, which kills millions each year, is based on a two thousand year old Chinese herbal remedy, and taken from the common plant family Artemisia.
Persistent killers
New disease pose a constant threat to disastrous epidemics. In Africa, millions live in the fear of the ebola virus, named after a deadly outbreak in the ebola river region of Zaire in 1976. One sufferer was transferred to the capital, Kinshasa, where the disease is found to be new - and infectious enough to threaten the city's two million people. The hospital, and ebola region, were instantly sealed off. The fever kills up to 90 percent of its victims and can not be cured. It broke out again in 1995, killing most of the staff and patients at a hospital in kikwit, Zaire. So infectious is the virus that even burial parties must wear protective clothing.
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