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In June of 1940, addressing the threat of Nazis in Europe, Winston Churchill had this to say to the British House of Commons.
Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
The speech became infamous, a perfect distillation of British pluck and resolve, one that was only proven more true during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz, when the island nation endured almost an entire year of air strikes from the Luftwaffe, a carnage that left tens of thousands of citizens killed and many of its cities destroyed.
Britain did not give in then, and it appears the nation is once again ready for a fight, as its chief medical officer has decided to take on an STI epidemic. From The Guardian:
Gonorrhea is at risk of becoming an untreatable disease, England’s chief medical officer has said.
Dame Sally Davies has written to all GPs and pharmacies to ensure they are prescribing the correct drugs after the rise of a highly drug-resistant strain of the infection.
The warning comes after a national public health alert was triggered in Septemberby an outbreak of highly drug-resistant gonorrhoea in the north of England.
“Gonorrhoea is at risk of becoming an untreatable disease due to the continuing emergence of antimicrobial resistance,” Davies writes.
“Gonorrhoea has rapidly acquired resistance to new antibiotics, leaving few alternatives to the current recommendations. It is therefore extremely important that suboptimal treatment does not occur.” The letter is also signed by the chief pharmaceutical officer, Dr Keith Ridge.
All I have to offer is my blood, toil, tears and sweat, this letter is not, but it’s a start.
The new, super gonorrhea can be treated, but many British doctors are still prescribing ciprofloxacin, without an additional antibiotic that helps fight the bacteria, which is becoming resistant to treatment.
We’ll soon fight out if our friends across the pond have the strength in them to fight anew.
[Via The Washington Post]