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Big pharmaceutical companies have signed an agreement to tackle the spread of superbugs as the UN prepares to discuss antimicrobial resistance.
大型药企签署了一份协议，以应对超级细菌的蔓延。与此同时，联合国(UN)正准备就抗生素耐药性(AMR)问题展开讨论。
Drugmakers including Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and AstraZeneca said the world faced a “staggering threat” from drug-resistant superbugs and agreed to abide by a voluntary code of conduct designed to address the problem.
包括强生(Johnson & Johnson)、辉瑞(Pfizer)和阿斯利康(AstraZeneca)在内的制药商表示，全球面临具备抗药性的超级细菌的“惊人威胁”。这些制药商还一致同意遵守一套旨在解决这个问题的自愿行为准则。
Antimicrobial resistance describes the phenomenon where antibiotics and other infection-fighting drugs no longer work effectively because bacteria have developed the ability to fight back.
抗生素耐药性是指这种现象：抗生素及其他抗感染药不再能有效杀死细菌，因为后者发展出了抵御能力。
The majority of scientists believe that if AMR is allowed to spread unchecked then common infectious diseases will become untreatable, reversing more than a century of progress in which many deadly illnesses were all but wiped out.
多数科学家认为，如果听任抗生素耐药性肆意蔓延，那么常见的传染病将无法治疗，一个多世纪以来取得进步——即许多致命疾病几乎被消灭——将被逆转。
The pharma groups pledged to tackle pollution caused by factories making antibiotics, which often dump toxic waste in waterways, creating a breeding ground for the kind of bacterial interaction that can cause drug resistance.
制药企业承诺要解决抗生素生产厂造成的污染。这些工厂常把有毒废料倾倒在水道内，为那种能导致耐药性的细菌相互作用创造了温床。
They also agreed to educate the public and doctors about the prudent use of antibiotics and to remove incentives that encourage sales teams to sell them in larger volumes, amid fears that over-prescription has made bacteria less receptive to medicines.
这些药企还一致同意要教育公众和医生谨慎使用抗生素，并取消鼓励销售团队大批量销售抗生素的激励措施。人们担心，抗生素开得过多已导致细菌变得对药物不那么敏感。
The drugmakers said they would take steps to make antibiotics more affordable in low- and middle-income countries that stand to lose the most from a surge in AMR.
这些药企表示，它们会采取措施，让中低收入国家更容易买得起抗生素。抗生素耐药性若迅速蔓延，中低收入国家将蒙受最大的损失。
On Monday, the World Bank warned in a report that unchecked AMR would wreak havoc on the global economy of a scale similar the financial crisis in 2008.
周一，世界银行(WB)在一份报告中警告称，抗生素耐药性若得不到抑制，给全球经济造成的破坏将堪比2008年的金融危机。
By 2050, annual global gross domestic product would fall by up to 3.8 per cent, with low-income countries losing up to 5 per cent, according to the report.
这份报告称，到2050年，全球年国内生产总值(GDP)将最多被抹去3.8%，低收入国家的年GDP将最多被抹去5%。
“Unlike the financial crisis, there would be no prospects for a cyclical recovery in the medium term as the costly impacts of AMR would persist,” the authors warned.
报告的作者们警告称：“与金融危机不同，由于抗生素耐药性造成的代价高昂的影响将长期存在，因此中期内不存在周期性复苏的可能性。”
Also among the 13 companies that have signed up to the accord are GlaxoSmithKline, Allergan, Roche, Merck, Novartis and Sanofi.
签署这份协议的13家企业还包括葛兰素史克(GlaxoSmithKline)、艾尔健(Allergan)、罗氏(Roche)、默克(Merck)、诺华(Novartis)及赛诺菲(Sanofi)。
The agreement comes as the UN General Assembly prepares to discuss AMR during a high-level meeting on Wednesday — a sign of how seriously world leaders are taking the problem.
该协议出炉之际，联合国大会(UN general assembly)正准备在周三一次高级别会议期间讨论抗生素耐药性，这显示出世界各国领导人对这个问题有多么重视。
The assembly has put a health topic on the agenda on only three previous occasions: to discuss HIV, Ebola and noncommunicable diseases such as heart disease and cancer.
此前，联合国大会只有三次将健康问题放入议程，这三次讨论的分别是艾滋病、埃博拉病毒(Ebola)和非传染性疾病，比如心脏病和癌症。
