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Drug,
substance that affects the function of living cells, used
in medicine to diagnose, cure, prevent the occurrence of diseases
and disorders, and prolong the life of patients with incurable
conditions.
Since 1900 the availability of new and more effective drugs
such as antibiotics, which fight bacterial infections, and
vaccines, which prevent diseases caused by bacteria and viruses,
has increased the average American's life span from about
60 years to about 75 years. Drugs have vastly improved the
quality of life. Today, drugs have contributed to the eradication
of once widespread and sometimes fatal diseases such as poliomyelitis
and smallpox.
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