At one am in the emergency room of a Taipei emergency clinic, the blaring of an ambulance siren cuts through the quiet stillness of the night. A man covered in blood from a car accident enters through the main doorway of the external medicine intensive care unit. He needs emergency medical treatment for his injured leg. In the next room over is a patient who’s lying peacefully. Because this patient is coping with a fever onset by pneumonia, he doesn’t have any obvious outward signs. His family thinks he just has a minor illness, arranging for him to stay in the hospital for seven to ten days, and think that if he’s administered some antibiotics, that he will then be cured.
一邊是看得見的出血傷口，令人慌張; 但另一邊卻是隱形的殺手正在攻擊病人，情勢更加兇猛。 後者因為長期臥床，肺部及尿道極易感染，反覆幾次之後，身體已出現 [多重抗藥性細菌]，俗稱 [超級細菌]。It’s clear to see that one patient has an obvious wound that is seeping blood，which alarms people; However，the other patient has a silent killer that is attacking him，the severity of the illness has been very fierce. Because the latter has been bedridden for a long period of time, his lungs and urinary tract are easily infected. After repeated infections, our culprit, a “drug-resistant bacteria” appears in the body, otherwise known as a “superbug”.
根據衛福部統計的前五大死因，二0一五年比起十年前，肺炎每十萬人口的死亡增減比例，是唯一增加的疾病，癌症，心臟病，糖尿病，腦血管疾病反而都是減少。 其中的重要原因之一，就是超級細菌。 這意味著十年來，其他疾病隨著醫藥發達而獲得控制，但是台灣因為濫用抗生素，導致三種或三種以上抗生素都對它無效的超級細菌，卻愈來愈兇猛。
According to the health and wellness bureau’s estimations of the 5 greatest illnesses contributing to death, when compared with estimates from ten years ago, the 2015 estimates placed pneumonia at every 100,000 deaths in the population; it’s the only death-inducing illness that has increased. Cancer, heart disease, diabetes, aneurisms on the other hand，have all decreased. Amid the reasons is one important factor: Super-bacteria. This means that in ten years’ time, other illnesses following the successive creation of new medicines will be under control, but in Taiwan, because of the inundation of antibiotics, it will lead to 3 or more drug resistant bacteria that are immune to antibiotics，which will lead to increasingly stronger and fiercer outbreaks。
<<天下>> 本期封面故事有資深選述謝明玲，記者林怡延伸入這個令人忽視的公共衛生議題，抽絲剝繭台灣濫用抗生素的生態圈，醫院，社區，農牧業缺乏管理，環環相扣，導致這場人與超級細菌之戰，居於下風。
This periodical issue of Commonwealth’s cover story editor Hsieh Ming-Ling and reporter Lin Yi-Yen have extended into this issue a public health crisis long-neglected by people. They will methodically analyze Taiwan’s antibiotic-flooded medical scene, hospitals, communities, farms and pastures lacking management, all closely linked with one another, leading to this war between mankind and super-bugs occupying the forefront.
不只是台灣，超級細菌之戰也是全球議題。根據英國經濟學家歐尼爾五月公布的[全球抗藥性報告]，前年約有七十萬人死於抗藥性疾病,到了2050年，每三秒就會有一人因感染而死亡。 各國政府及科學家，無不竭力擬定新戰略，面對這場逼近的感人風暴。It is not just Taiwan. The war against superbacteria is a worldwide issue. According to English economist O’neal’s statement from May of this year titled, “World-wide Drug Resistant Bacteria,” two years ago, on there were on average 700,000 people per year who died to illnesses caused by drug-resistant bacteria。 In 2050, a person will die from an infection every 3 seconds. Governments worldwide as well as scientists，will need to work tirelessly to establish a new battle plan and face this approaching，infectious tempest.