The era of antibiotics is coming to a close. In just a couple of generations, what once appeared to be miracle medicines have been beaten into ineffectiveness by the bacteria they were designed to knock out. Once, scientists hailed the end of infectious diseases. Now, the post-antibiotic apocalypse is within sight.
Hyperbole? Unfortunately not. The highly serious journal Lancet Infectious Diseases yesterday posed the question itself over a paper revealing the rapid spread of multi-drug-resistant bacteria. “Is this the end of antibiotics?” it asked.
Doctors and scientists have not been complacent, but the paper by Professor Tim Walsh and colleagues takes the anxiety to a new level. Last September, Walsh published details of a gene he had discovered, called NDM 1, which passes easily between types of bacteria called enterobacteriaceae such as E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae and makes them resistant to almost all of the powerful, last-line group of antibiotics called carbapenems. Yesterday’s paper revealed that NDM 1 is widespread in India and has arrived here as a result of global travel and medical tourism for, among other things, transplants, pregnancy care and cosmetic surgery.
Pretty scary. First I’ve heard about NDM 1.
Found by Gasparrini.
This is just an excuse for gene therapy and designer babies for those who can afford it and more (mandatory) vaccination for the rest.
#35–Animby==I couldn’t DISAGREE more, well, actually I “could.” I’m back to remembering in my pre-med days why I decided not to become a doc: I don’t like sick people. The knowledge and science and job freedom a typical doc has is very attractive = but dealing with dumb people who are sick is the norm, not like “Royal Pains” at all.
The first 50 times you take 3-5 minutes to explain why antibiotics don’t work for colds may be all that can be expected, but the second 50? the 5th 50?= and so on. “BORING!” is what it comes down to.
I’ve been to a doc about 3 times in my life, but I can’t imagine “demanding” any specific course of treatment. I can’t imagine getting upset after being informed of the science behind a “yes, I’ve confirmed you have the common cold. Drink fluids, take some Vit C, a zinc throat lozenges, and expect these symptoms for 3-5 days. Any changes, come back.”
What you “do” for these patients is EDUCATE them which does take more time and also empowers them to take care of themselves in the future. What you are unintentionally but not surprisingly doing is keeping yourself at the go to guy, the keeper of secret magic, the head shaman.
Would you do surgery for the same reason? No, but you will make antibiotics drug resistant? Like I said, 8 years education and training, an oath, a duty, your own professional respect, and you give it away evidently with lingering justification?
Something is missing.
Course by “you” I mean the docs who do. Actually, like everyone else, I harbor too much respect for docs. Absent your own admission, I would have accepted that giving anti-biotics for colds was an urban myth.
Ha, ha. Yes, still getting more cynical the longer I live.
#7 Animby said:
Animby my friend, your ignorance of science, politics, the new hyper-fascist-capitalism and perhaps, medieval and ancient history is showing again.
You better start rounding up the Russians, NASA and all others involved in the ISS Space Station.. they all use the same process in the water recovery systems to keep the water sterile/free of bacterias.
I eagerly await to see the lawsuits for gross misuse of public funds and tainting the water supplies of astronauts, thusly exposing them to “considerable risk for absolutely no benefit.
Perhaps you should also start lawsuit against the NIH and the makers of Contreet-the (silver) bandages I have use for woundcare.
The *are* making “health” claims..
http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16722854
Open a case against all Burn units while your at it..
Some day, you may wish to let your mind out of the box it is in. -it may actually learn something.
-s
I have done several years worth of research and personal experimentation with silver colloid on myself and others who wished also to try it. The results have always been far and above all expectations and claims.
Extra credit: ever wonder how the phrase “it’s no Silver Bullet” came about? or one of the “Blue Bloods” myths? or why in old and ancient times, milk and water was stored in silver casks or a silver coin put in a regular cask to keep it from spoiling during the journey?
You will never know the truth unless you personally desire and seek it yourself. Get cracking buddy, time is short.
-s
holy crap..
i had left this thread open in my browser the past day or so..when there were only 12 replies when i just now hit “submit”
-what a cluster fk.
#37 The Silver Genie
-great response.
I was too lazy to make such well documented response, as i have found too many people are auto-programmed to debunk or ridicule the facts of sliver, even when blitzkrieg lights are shining upon centuries of evidence.
Hat’s off to you.
-s
#43 bobbo, “Is your curiosity peaked, or is this all old hat?”
No, I’m afraid it’s pretty much all old hat. I know perfectly well about the application of silver salts for severe burns. I also am aware of the use of silver in the treatment of water. (I live in SE Asia and I guarantee you there is a silver/ceramic filter on my drinking water supply!)
I also know that there has never been a scientific study confirming the use of silver colloids as a health-promoting dietary component. Not one.
Soundwash claims he has spent years doing research. This research did not apparently include the etymology of “silver bullet” or “blue bloods” and I guess he has forgone the modern convenience of refrigeration for silver casks and silver coins. No his research was based on self testing and anecdotal evidence and, no doubt, a large amount of applied hucksterism.
If Soundwash wants me to apologize, I will be happy to do so. All I require is ONE prospective, double-blind, scientific study published in a mainstream, peer-reviewed medical journal demonstrating the benefits of colloidal silver as a curative treatment.
Just one.
Animby – Old Hat eh? I hate hats, old or new, unless I’m in the hot sun, then just about any will do?
I hate experts. Can never tell if they are spinning, demonstrating a blind spot, are behind the times, or just telling it like it is.
I won’t try to double check. My memory of the Bring Them Young study referenced by Silver Genie mentioned it was “quiet” (such an irritating adjective) but not that it was double blind or peer reviewed. I also take your info on aspirin at face value. I was of the impression it was more a “refined” product of the willow which in modern times had found industrial chemical sources? Don’t know if that is a quibble or exactly what you meant?===or even what I mean by that comment. Ha. Ha.
Water purification, diet supplement, drug synergy/additive==three very different applications. Lots of fraud in every other consumer oriented “colloidal anything” that I have seen.
Temperature cooling off at night this week. Makes the night time toddy a real pleasure. Thanks for overcoming old issues and continuing to post.
I’m not all that fond of experts, either. I was taught early that x=unknown while a spurt is a drip under pressure. What I am even less fond of are pseudo-experts who claim to know so much that science does not. Whether it’s creationists or medical quackery.
Aspirin. Willow bark has been used for centuries for many of the same purposes as aspirin. The Frenchman who first synthesized acetylsalicylic acid may very well have been trying to achieve an analog of the willow bark. I don’t know. But I can tell you that the compounds are different and aspirin has a much greater effect than willow bark (salicin).
What are you doing awake so early in the morning? Isn’t it like 0430 where you live? Here in northern Thailand, the monsoons have arrived and really cooled things off. Now, at 1900 it’s a lovely 82F out and the rains seem to have stopped for the day. I’m going to go sit in a coffee shop for a while, get a nice massage and then some fiery fish for dinner. I love my spicy Thai food.
And aspirin.
The problem is simple. We are feeding the stuff to livestock and spraying it on plants and using it on humans even if the infection is a virus instead of using it with restraint on those few cases where it is actually needed so yes. In most countries antibiotics will soon be worthless.
There are one or two countries that have limited the use of the antibiotics to the point that it will most likely continue to effective against most local bacterial infections.
As for those that didn’t. That’s what evolution is all about. Removal of the stupid and the foolish from the gene pool. That in this case it will work on a national level hardly matters.
#46–Animby==just to be clear: when I say “hate” I actually mean “love to consider carefully what is being offered.” Aspirn at least seems pretty straight forward, one only needs to look at the name of the two different things being discussed.
Sadly, as much fun as it is to practice pseudo-expertise in fields I did not qualify in, I must wait for science to gain a consensus before accepting an issue as PRAGMATICALLY verified and ready to use. The exceptions, like the source of stomach ulcers, are so few and far between that traditional scientific consensus must be the default position.
Anti-biotic, aka colloidal metals of all kinds, are another interesting “concept” by the name alone: anti-life. What else is that metal killing besides the nastie du jour? Until science tells us, I will remain FATALISTIC and allow my genetics and general health to play out in Darwin’s Jungle. Of course, on deaths door, bring in the shamans–whats the harm, on deaths door?
There must be a “core” psychological difference between those enjoying the twilight of day vs night? While I actually do experience both quite regularly, I find the night twilight to be so very much more relaxing. A day well concluded? Winding Down, recapitulation of the day’s accomplishments. Just the reverse of the challenging sun.
I hate /// err, I love to consider closely what the new day sun is offering.
Sunrise, blasting Bright
Rousing the dead once again
Seeking blissful night.
Speaking of “anti-biotics:” — our mania for sanitized this and that is going to do us in:
http://newscientist.com/article/mg20727735.300-antibacterial-socks-may-boost-greenhouse-emissions.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news
Animby–what excellent bedside manner you have. But I thought I made it clear in other posts that on my death bed I want to wipe my ass with a monkey. You should find that in my Directive to Physicians, Permitted Modalities of Life Extension. I’d hold out for quite a long time to wipe my ass with a monkey, and yes, I’d have to be dying to try it.
Bobbo: So, you’re dying to try it? Monkeys are really a form of advanced ass wiping. Maybe you get Perkel to loan you a squirrel to get started.
I’m off to a clinic in northern Laos. Unless there’s a cell phone tower up there, I’ll have to leave the commenting to you and Soundwash for a few days.
Have fun. And get some sleep!