Except with antibiotics history did not quite play out like this, in that there were far more fatal diseases before the invention of antibiotics, and some superbugs can be controlled with different variations on the same basic technology.
"Except with antibiotics history did not quite play out like this"
Sure it did. In fact, already in the 60s the original penicillin became dangerously ineffective. Around that time we (==humanity) developed semi-synthetic penicillin that enables us to change some core ingredients in the formula every few years and thus avoid saturation by bacterial evolution.
Of course, IANABiologist, so look for more information if it interests you.
p.s. if anyone is around London I highly recommend going to the Alexander Fleming museum. Highly recommended and since (sadly) no one goes there you effectively get a private tour of Fleming's lab.
Also if we could guarantee a period of relatively little disease, it's not like all research just stops. We can probably evolve many different types of "super-bugs" in the lab faster than nature and create advance treatments for them, extending the period of low disease even further and further. I'm also a believer in a general solution to human sickness being discoverable, though I don't have confident time frames.
