As with war and famine, the severity and frequency with which pestilence (plagues) are now striking is alarming.

Less than 20 years ago the medical profession claimed victory over a wide array of bacterial and viral killers. In 1979, U.S. Surgeon General William Stewart declared that it was time to "close the books on infectious diseases." (14)

As recently as 1983, a medical textbook declared infectious diseases "more easily prevented and more easily cured" than any other major group of disorders. (15)

But instead of fading, the cases of infectious diseases have skyrocketed throughout the '90s. Dr. Sherwin Nuland, in his best-selling book, How We Die (16), laments, "Medicine's purported triumph over infectious disease has become an illusion." (17)

Doctors now warn that the current resurgence of drug-resistant bacteria strains could prove to be more deadly than AIDS. AP reports:

The emergence of bacteria strains that cannot be killed by the current arsenal of antibiotics could become a public health threat worse than AIDS, experts warn.

Diseases considered conquered -- tuberculosis, pneumonia, meningitis, staph infections -- are becoming unstoppable. Common bacteria that cause everything from toddlers' ear infections to pneumonia could become "supergerms" resistant to vancomycin and other drugs.

Scientists expect "nothing short of a medical disaster," Dr. Alexander Tomasz of Rockefeller University in New York City warned at the 1994 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. (18)

The Antibiotic Backfire

Why this sudden reemergence of diseases that were once considered to be waning or almost eliminated? Ironically, the experts say that it's the widespread misuse of drugs designed to eliminate them that is now responsible for the new super-strains.

Critics complain of a "B-52 approach" among some doctors who blitz their patients with a battery of broad-based antibiotics, often when they are unsure exactly what is making them sick. Experts also suspect that the wide use of antibiotics in animal feed is contributing to resistance. (19)

Viral Killers

The medical community is now warning that not only are bacterial plagues on the rise, but viral killers like AIDS and Ebola are occurring more frequently than ever.

AIDS and Ebola may be just cautionary warnings of many other killer viruses that could suddenly flash through the human population as a result of genetic mutation or social changes that favor the disease, experts say.

"We probably are seeing only the tip of the iceberg in the number of viruses that can exist in humans," said Dr. Morse, an expert on Ebola. Richard Courtney of Pennsylvania State University said the recent pattern is that "emerging viral diseases are becoming more frequent, not less." (20)

The AIDS Explosion

As AIDS continues its global rampage, the statistics have become staggering. UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV / AIDS, in its year-end estimates released in December 1996, stated that 3.1 million new HIV infections occurred that year. 1.5 million people died of AIDS in 1996, bringing the total of AIDS-related deaths to 6.4 million. As of this writing, over 24 million people are living with HIV / AIDS, which means well over 30 million have been infected since the disease was first recognized in 1981. (21)

The World Health Organization (WHO) says "around the world more than 6,000 people every day are infected with HIV and the epidemic is getting worse. Heterosexual transmission now accounts for about 75 percent of all HIV infections." (22) WHO spokesman Christopher Powell has predicted the number of HIV-positive people will reach 40 million by the year 2000. (23)

Aside from the above-mentioned plagues, there is, of course, cancer, which is considered non-infectious. Scientists estimate that about 80 percent of cancers are caused by environmental factors, such as tobacco smoke (actively or passively inhaled) and the ingestion of harmful chemicals in our modern food supply. Virtually unheard of among our ancestors, over 100 different kinds of cancer now kill over 6 million people every year. A dramatic rise in the deadly skin cancer melanoma is attributed to the depletion of the earth's ozone layer, which blocks much of the sun's ultraviolet radiation.

Jesus said there would be an abundance of plagues and diseases marking the time of His return. Even though these things will become increasingly widespread in the days to come, the Bible also tells us that God can protect and even heal those who trust in Him: "There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. … Unto you that fear My name, shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings" (Psalm 91:10; Malachi 4:2).

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