消除幻觉 疾病、疫苗与被遗忘的历史 / Dissolving Illusions: Disease, Vaccines, and the Forgotten History (Simplified Chinese)

曾几何时，致命的传染病肆虐西方，令各国闻之色变。然而历经洗礼，许多国家已然完成蜕变——昔日的瘟疫肆虐之地，如今已成为安康宜居之所。自十九世纪中叶起，各类传染病的致死率均开始稳步下降，到二十世纪初已降至历史低位。这场变革的历史进程中，诸多因素相互交织：饥荒与贫困、恶劣的卫生环境、失传的疗法、颇具争议的优生学理论、个人自由与国家权力的博弈，以及因抵制疫苗接种而引发的抗议与逮捕。当今的主流观点宣称，医疗干预措施不仅延长了人类寿命，更是凭“一己之力”遏制了大规模的死亡。但事实果真如此吗？《消除幻觉》一书从尘封已久的医学期刊、书籍、报纸等资料中挖掘出详实数据，通过极具说服力的图表揭示：疫苗、抗生素等医疗手段并非人类寿命延长和传染病死亡率下降的真正推手。当医学界对关键历史信息存在系统性误读与忽视时，我们不得不追问：“今天还有多少真相被掩盖和曲解？”铭记历史的终极意义，或许就在于：让曾经的至暗时刻，永不再现。

Not too long ago, lethal infections were feared in the Western world. Since that time, many countries have undergone a transformation from disease cesspools to much safer, healthier habitats. Starting in the mid-1800s, there was a steady drop in deaths from all infectious diseases, decreasing to relatively minor levels by the early 1900s. The history of that transformation involves famine, poverty, filth, lost cures, eugenicist doctrine, individual freedoms versus state might, protests and arrests over vaccine refusal, and much more. Today, we are told that medical interventions increased our lifespan and single-handedly prevented masses of deaths. But is this really true? Dissolving Illusions details facts and figures from long-overlooked medical journals, books, newspapers, and other sources. Using myth-shattering graphs, this book shows that vaccines, antibiotics, and other medical interventions are not responsible for the increase in lifespan and the decline in mortality from infectious diseases. If the medical profession could systematically misinterpret and ignore key historical information, the question must be asked, “What else is ignored and misinterpreted today? Perhaps the best reason to know our history is so that the worst parts are never repeated.