Assignment 10- Jasir Rahman- The Real Apocalypse

While my peers have been discussing their intricate measures to survive a fictional zombie plague, I wonder why they aren't worried about the real plagues that threaten our very civilization.

The Bubonic and Pneumonic plague is spreading throughout China right now.  4 cases of the plague have been identified in under 3 weeks, and the fear of spread has caused the government to set up checkpoints to prevent further exposure and spread.  With globalization making the world more accessible through transportation innovations, a plague today would be more devastating than ever before.  56.9 million tourists visit China annually, opening the floodgates for the exchange of dangerous diseases.  This is suspiciously reminiscent of the movie Contagion, in which Gwyneth Paltrow is infected with a virus in China and brings it back to the United States, causing an epidemic to spread worldwide.  Worryingly, the film was praised for its scientific accuracy, meaning that it is not farfetched to believe such an epidemic may occur.

Even if you believe that an international plague outbreak won't happen, superbugs of our own creation will inevitably be the doom of us all.  Antibiotics have kept humans safe from infection for years, saving a countless number of people.  The danger lies in the plasticity of bacteria, which have evolved to survive our antibiotics, making them essentially useless.  The CDC found that drug-resistant bacteria has killed twice as many people as previously thought.  Indeed, drug-resistant bacteria has killed 35,000 people in the last year, or about 1 person every 15 minutes.  The impact is massive, as bacteria will be unfettered and multiply with no way to combat them.  As antibiotics become more and more irrelevant, the number of casualties will grow from tens of thousands to millions and billions.  I know it may seem hopeless, but we can prolong our existence.  The reason superbugs evolve so readily is in part due to the fact that many people don't finish off the entire bottle of antibiotics once their symptoms are resolved.  The strongest bacteria survive and multiply without the entire dose, allowing a drug-resistant strain to emerge and ravage your immune system.  So finish your bottle of antibiotics if you don't want to singlehandedly kill the entire human race.

Let this serve as a PSA to all who read it to wash your hands, get your vaccines, and take your entire dose of antibiotics.  That is one of my fears, an epidemic that actually has scientific backing that proves the potential of its existence.