The future plague?

If 2000 was a major top in social mood and we are only experiencing the first part of a major decline in mood, it's possible there will be at least one case of a serious disease outbreak. The most likely candidate appears to be drug-resistant bacteria. Diseases that were leading killers in the 19th Century and almost eradicated in the 20th, could once again become leading killers in the 21st.

Drug-Defying Germs From India Speed Post-Antibiotic Era

Kakkar and others worry about NDM-1 because unlike germs such as VRE, short for the vancomycin-resistant enterococci bug that can cause infection around a patient’s surgical incision, NDM-1 is spreading beyond hospitals.

Two travelers from the Netherlands picked up an NDM-1 bug in their bowels after visiting India in 2009 although they hadn’t received medical care there, says Maurine Leverstein-van Hall, a clinical microbiologist at the University Medical Center in the Dutch city of Utrecht.

“That’s what’s scary,” she says. “It’s not just surgery or being near a hospital. In some way, you get it through the food chain or through the water.”

...Even though she escaped physical harm, Skaret says, NDM-1 made her feel isolated. She says therapists, concerned about their own exposure, refused to help her with rehabilitation to recover from the car accident. Neighbors who delivered food were careful not to get too close.

“When they heard about it, they were very cautious,” she says.

I've covered this previously, but this story is very detailed and worth a read.