2 ms·
I don't have a horse in this race either, but bacterial diseases are far more manageable than viral diseases from a public health perspective. The fact that you
by AlotOfReading 7y ago
I don't have a horse in this race either, but bacterial diseases are far more manageable than viral diseases from a public health perspective. The fact that you can get the former doesn't balance the latter, if pandemic risk is a policy consideration you want to have.
- gamblor956 7y agoExcept for the part where bacteria can evolve permanent resistances to antibacterial agents, and survive for weeks or months on surfaces, while viruses have a limited ability to adapt to antivirals and have a short and finite span of viability in the wild.
- AlotOfReading 7y agoAntibiotic resistance has an energetic cost and generally gets selected against in the absence of agents. Bacteria are also much easier (and cheaper) to test for. Even if there was a hyperbug, you can afford to check everyone inside a half mile of the infected for relatively low cost.
- CraigJPerry 7y agoThey won’t be if we keep pumping antibiotics into our food supply in the meantime