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?
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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)