Today, heart disease and cancer are, by far, the leading causes of death in the United States. In 1900, they were relatively insignificant. This is not because our forebears pursued a healthier lifestyle, didn’t smoke, or followed a more prudent diet. It’s because back then infectious diseases didn’t give our two modern killers a chance to move in; they got to people earlier and more often than heart disease and cancer ever could. Antibiotics, along with the other basic public health measures we have described, have had a dramatic impact on the quality and longevity of our modern life. When
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