6 ms·

Thanks for sharing. Multiresistant bacteria are high on my list of slow-mo crashes happening before our eyes that no one seems to be talking about (compared to

by t_mann 4y ago

Thanks for sharing. Multiresistant bacteria are high on my list of slow-mo crashes happening before our eyes that no one seems to be talking about (compared to eg climate change, which is also a slow-mo catastrophe, but at least one that people are talking about). And it's always puzzled me how little I hear about work being done on phages, which pose an interesting approach to tackle the problem (compared to eg quantum computing, where commercialization potential seems to be a lot further out).

abirch 4y ago
Pharma has thought about it. They are working on drugs it hopes to never use. https://www.merck.com/stories/antimicrobial-resistance-an-emerging-public-health-crisis/ https://www.merck.com/stories/antimicrobial-resistance-an-em...
- salawat 4y ago
  If nature made it, no patent. Where's the lockin with that? /s
taf2 4y ago
Really I feel like this has been a hot topic for at least 15 years.. for example 5 years ago this https://youtu.be/plVk4NVIUh8 https://youtu.be/plVk4NVIUh8 was on hacker news and got a lot of discussion as I recall… Ok maybe you are right my search yielded few posts that got any traction - so maybe it was just me sharing with people I know!
- Fomite 4y ago
  I say this in another comment, but this has been The Next Big Thing For Infectious Disease since I was an undergrad. I got tenure this year.
Loic 4y ago
At least in France, a series of antibiotics are not allowed to be used/sold outside of hospitals. This is to ensure that hospitals have some last resort antibiotics in hard cases. But even with that, they have issues. In Germany, where I live at the moment, the risks and issues are well known and talked about. I have seen a large reduction of the prescription of antibiotics. The younger the MD, the less antibiotics are given. But 80% (maybe even more) of the antibiotics are used by animal farming...
- voisin 4y ago
  > But 80% (maybe even more) of the antibiotics are used by animal farming... This is what needs to be talked about more. Like guns in the US, or telecom oligopolies in Canada, it seems animal based agriculture gets the “thoughts and prayers” treatment rather than any substantive discussion about what harm it is causing the planet, human health, and biological safety via antibiotic resistance.
  - nradov 4y ago
    The FDA is actively working on this issue. https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/safety-health/antimicrobial-resistance https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/safety-health/antimicr...
  - Terry_Roll 4y ago
    It is. https://www.worldanimalprotection.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/Superbugs-on-UK-supermarket-shelves-report-final.pdf https://www.worldanimalprotection.org.uk/sites/default/files... 1ml of sea water will contain billions of phages, but its pot luck if you get the right strain. Another thing not mentioned with antibiotics is man y are penicillin based that when metabolised become penicillamine which is used to treat copper toxicity or Wilson's disease, ie it makes the liver dump copper out of the body. Copper is needed to produce Interleukin-2, a naturally occurring chemo drug, most effective when injected into tumours, but having naturally high levels circulating can be helpful as a prevention measure. Creatine when metabolised becomes creatinine which in sufficient qty can kill gram positive and gram negative bacteria. If you get 3rd degree burns, the muscles catabolise to release creatine and then the creatinine helps to keep bacteria at bay with the wounds. It probably also explains why the US military are reportedly the only one's to use copper sulphate to debride battlefield wounds. Even the WHO dont recommend using it! Copper sulphate will dissolve skin though. Vitamin D also increases creatinine, and because creatinine is used for estimated glomular filtration rate kidney tests, high levels of creatinine can make you appear to have various stages of kidney disease. Medical lab tests (human and veterinary) can not tell if you are supplementing so dont get an inaccurate diagnosis.
  - refurb 4y ago
jryb 4y ago
There are plenty of people/companies working on phage therapies, and there are clinical trials happening now [1]. In some eastern European countries you can buy phage solutions over the counter. It just doesn't get much press - though I'd speculate that's because phage therapy clinical trials have been pretty lackluster so far. 1: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=&term=phage+therapy&cntry=&state=&city=&dist= https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=&term=phage+ther...

by t_mann 4y ago

abirch 4y ago

Pharma has thought about it. They are working on drugs it hopes to never use. https://www.merck.com/stories/antimicrobial-resistance-an-emerging-public-health-crisis/ https://www.merck.com/stories/antimicrobial-resistance-an-em...

salawat 4y ago
If nature made it, no patent. Where's the lockin with that? /s

taf2 4y ago

Really I feel like this has been a hot topic for at least 15 years.. for example 5 years ago this https://youtu.be/plVk4NVIUh8 https://youtu.be/plVk4NVIUh8 was on hacker news and got a lot of discussion as I recall… Ok maybe you are right my search yielded few posts that got any traction - so maybe it was just me sharing with people I know!

Fomite 4y ago
I say this in another comment, but this has been The Next Big Thing For Infectious Disease since I was an undergrad. I got tenure this year.

Loic 4y ago

At least in France, a series of antibiotics are not allowed to be used/sold outside of hospitals. This is to ensure that hospitals have some last resort antibiotics in hard cases. But even with that, they have issues. In Germany, where I live at the moment, the risks and issues are well known and talked about. I have seen a large reduction of the prescription of antibiotics. The younger the MD, the less antibiotics are given. But 80% (maybe even more) of the antibiotics are used by animal farming...

voisin 4y ago
> But 80% (maybe even more) of the antibiotics are used by animal farming... This is what needs to be talked about more. Like guns in the US, or telecom oligopolies in Canada, it seems animal based agriculture gets the “thoughts and prayers” treatment rather than any substantive discussion about what harm it is causing the planet, human health, and biological safety via antibiotic resistance.
- nradov 4y ago
  The FDA is actively working on this issue. https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/safety-health/antimicrobial-resistance https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/safety-health/antimicr...
- Terry_Roll 4y ago
  It is. https://www.worldanimalprotection.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/Superbugs-on-UK-supermarket-shelves-report-final.pdf https://www.worldanimalprotection.org.uk/sites/default/files... 1ml of sea water will contain billions of phages, but its pot luck if you get the right strain. Another thing not mentioned with antibiotics is man y are penicillin based that when metabolised become penicillamine which is used to treat copper toxicity or Wilson's disease, ie it makes the liver dump copper out of the body. Copper is needed to produce Interleukin-2, a naturally occurring chemo drug, most effective when injected into tumours, but having naturally high levels circulating can be helpful as a prevention measure. Creatine when metabolised becomes creatinine which in sufficient qty can kill gram positive and gram negative bacteria. If you get 3rd degree burns, the muscles catabolise to release creatine and then the creatinine helps to keep bacteria at bay with the wounds. It probably also explains why the US military are reportedly the only one's to use copper sulphate to debride battlefield wounds. Even the WHO dont recommend using it! Copper sulphate will dissolve skin though. Vitamin D also increases creatinine, and because creatinine is used for estimated glomular filtration rate kidney tests, high levels of creatinine can make you appear to have various stages of kidney disease. Medical lab tests (human and veterinary) can not tell if you are supplementing so dont get an inaccurate diagnosis.
- refurb 4y ago

jryb 4y ago

There are plenty of people/companies working on phage therapies, and there are clinical trials happening now [1]. In some eastern European countries you can buy phage solutions over the counter. It just doesn't get much press - though I'd speculate that's because phage therapy clinical trials have been pretty lackluster so far. 1: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=&term=phage+therapy&cntry=&state=&city=&dist= https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=&term=phage+ther...