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We have had effective means to treat drug-resistant infections for decades!
page: 1share:
news.yahoo.com...
This guy in France was in an accident and dozens of operations to repair damage to his legs. Doctors told him he would have to be amputated at the hip due to a raging bacterial infection that couldn't be treated with antibiotics. He had already decided life wasn't worth living if he had to be consigned to a wheelchair, so he asked them about an article he read about phage therapy.
It's kind of sick that we have had an effective alternative to antibiotics since WW1, but haven't made any effort to make such medicine available because it's not profitable. We are approaching the end of antibiotics (primarily due to agricultural over-use, but that's a different thread) and there are people dying to drug-resistant infections that could be saved with phage therapy.
My grandfather died to a drug-resistant infection. Virtually all our hospitals are breeding grounds to drug-resistant bacteria and grisly post-op infections are becoming more and more common.
IMO profits be damned. Phage therapy should be available to everyone.
This guy in France was in an accident and dozens of operations to repair damage to his legs. Doctors told him he would have to be amputated at the hip due to a raging bacterial infection that couldn't be treated with antibiotics. He had already decided life wasn't worth living if he had to be consigned to a wheelchair, so he asked them about an article he read about phage therapy.
"Without it, I wouldn't be here," Novou told AFP on the sidelines of a conference in Paris about the mostly forgotten therapy, which remains marginal outside a few former Soviet bloc countries.
The treatment harnesses viruses called phages to attack and kill dangerous bacteria, including "superbugs" which have become progressively resistant to antibiotics.
Discovered during World War I and developed during the 1920s and 1930s, it has few undesirable side-effects.
Dublanchet, now retired, claims to have cured at least 15 patients of infections they contracted mainly after road accidents, and for whom antibiotics did not work.
Treatment usually lasts a few weeks, and is generally far less expensive than last-resort antibiotics which can cost tens of thousands of dollars or euros.
Pharmaceutical companies have shown little interest in phage therapy, in large part because viruses cannot be patented, according to participants at the Paris conference.
It's kind of sick that we have had an effective alternative to antibiotics since WW1, but haven't made any effort to make such medicine available because it's not profitable. We are approaching the end of antibiotics (primarily due to agricultural over-use, but that's a different thread) and there are people dying to drug-resistant infections that could be saved with phage therapy.
My grandfather died to a drug-resistant infection. Virtually all our hospitals are breeding grounds to drug-resistant bacteria and grisly post-op infections are becoming more and more common.
IMO profits be damned. Phage therapy should be available to everyone.
a reply to: peskyhumans
Our Veterinarian checked into a hospital about 12 yrs ago, he was 50. He told his head nurse that he was afraid he would catch a bug and die (he went in for nuemonia). He died a week later, some super bug... weird thing, is, he predicted his death......sadly
Great post, thanks for sharing.
Our Veterinarian checked into a hospital about 12 yrs ago, he was 50. He told his head nurse that he was afraid he would catch a bug and die (he went in for nuemonia). He died a week later, some super bug... weird thing, is, he predicted his death......sadly
Great post, thanks for sharing.
The question is more why hospitals/doctors are not using the method, that big pharma won't touch it because no profit is just business 101.
Phage therapy is a moving target. You have to constantly make new phage, as bacteria adapt.
More, can you imagine the reactions? People already lose their minds over the idea of spraying meat with phage for common things like e.coli.
The DOD funded a really promising antibiotic that's about to enter phase 3 FDA testing. It kills a wide variety of bacteria, fungi and protists and they cannot become immune to it. So far, so good.
More, can you imagine the reactions? People already lose their minds over the idea of spraying meat with phage for common things like e.coli.
The DOD funded a really promising antibiotic that's about to enter phase 3 FDA testing. It kills a wide variety of bacteria, fungi and protists and they cannot become immune to it. So far, so good.
a reply to: peskyhumans
Ummm...I first read about phage therapy years and years ago...A Russian scientist discovered this about a century ago...
Now we know where Phage got his screen name...He's claiming to be a virus...and we the bacteria...
YouSir
Ummm...I first read about phage therapy years and years ago...A Russian scientist discovered this about a century ago...
Now we know where Phage got his screen name...He's claiming to be a virus...and we the bacteria...
YouSir
The question is more why hospitals/doctors are not using the method, that big pharma won't touch it because no profit is just business 101.
Probably cuz Doc's getting paid to endorse and use this over that is business as usual. Doctors are like the street level dealers with big pharma being the cartel. The cartel gets angry when dealers push anything other than their own brand. If anyone thinks Big Pharma is above using cartel style tactics to protect, cover up and influence it's agenda of "get rich or lie trying" then they need to think again.
a reply to: Mianeye
edit on 1-3-2016 by RainbowPhoenix because: (no reason given)
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given)
edit on 1-3-2016 by RainbowPhoenix because: (no reason given)
edit on 1-3-2016 by RainbowPhoenix because: (no
reason given)
originally posted by: RainbowPhoenix
The cartel gets angry when dealers push anything other than their own brand.
It doesn't help that 90% of America thinks vaccines are deadly poison. How in hell do you sell injecting someone with a live virus to take care of a bacterial infection?
Case in point, go back to when the FDA approved applying phage to food to kill common bacteria, and read the comments.
a reply to: RainbowPhoenix
I was thinking DEEP black. The sort of black you only get with an AMOLED screen, or maybe even that colouring that boffins developed, which absorbs 99.9 percent of visible light. It would be like being wrapped in animate shadows.
Like this:
www.independent.co.uk...[edi tby]edit on 1-3-2016 by TrueBrit because: Added link
I was thinking DEEP black. The sort of black you only get with an AMOLED screen, or maybe even that colouring that boffins developed, which absorbs 99.9 percent of visible light. It would be like being wrapped in animate shadows.
Like this:
www.independent.co.uk...[edi tby]edit on 1-3-2016 by TrueBrit because: Added link
It has prospects but it not the magical holy grail the op makes out.
Bacteriophages are very specific and are not general use.
For each Bacteria species and even subspecies you need to find a specific phage that can kill it which is no easy task.
Bacteriophages are very specific and are not general use.
For each Bacteria species and even subspecies you need to find a specific phage that can kill it which is no easy task.
edit on 1-3-2016 by
crazyewok because: (no reason given)
Phage therapy works, but not all the time.
It's another therapy that attracts the blanket belief that it will solve all problems, easily and every time. It won't.
However, it can work, but not all the time.
It's another therapy that attracts the blanket belief that it will solve all problems, easily and every time. It won't.
However, it can work, but not all the time.
originally posted by: paraphi
Phage therapy works, but not all the time.
It's another therapy that attracts the blanket belief that it will solve all problems, easily and every time. It won't.
However, it can work, but not all the time.
Exactly.
It has its uses and when it does work the results can be spectacular.
Problem is its so specific its hard finding the right bacteriaphage to work on the right infection.
It has promiseing applications for MRSA and there are some intresting things in the pipeline for that.
But dont expect to be the generation of bacteria treatments.
a reply to: YouSir
NO , no, Phages name is REALLY Phage...hes an AI program developed by Darpa....He lives in that big building they built in Utah.....
NO , no, Phages name is REALLY Phage...hes an AI program developed by Darpa....He lives in that big building they built in Utah.....
edit on 1-3-2016 by bandersnatch because: (no reason given)
edit on 1-3-2016 by bandersnatch because: (no reason
given)
originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: NewzNose
Well, if they developed a carbon nanotube based dagger, or a suit made of spiders silk, I would test those things out in a heart beat.
The latest development in antimicrobial surfacing actually uses nanotech to create a jagged surface. When the microbes imbed on the surface they get impaled, like you or I would if dropped on daggers of volcanic glass.
Nanotech is likely the next big step. It allows physical destruction of microbes rather than biological. It's the difference between poisoning somebody and shooting them. We likely have a few more generations of antibiotics to go though, if we can develop them fast enough.
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3/2/16 by Ksihkehe because: typo... and out of curiosity why doesn't anybody else fill in this portion when they edit. I always admit a typo, what is
wrong with all you bastards that can't admit to a typo? Really? It only takes a second to just say you make a typo.