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Anti-microbial stewardship is, by far - very far, the most important imperative in medicine (including animal husbandry) right now. It's absolutely alarming th

by jMyles 4y ago

Anti-microbial stewardship is, by far - very far, the most important imperative in medicine (including animal husbandry) right now. It's absolutely alarming that a dubious story about viral exposure at a wet market can gain so much undeserved traction worldwide, while the unquestioned use of antibiotics at factory farms elicits barely a word. A safe and effective vaccine, while welcome and important, only kicks this can down the road - and not very far. The threats of resistant pathogens are difficult to overstate. Let's start talking seriously about this issue. Please. Tell your friends.

chimeracoder 4y ago
> A safe and effective vaccine, while welcome and important, only kicks this can down the road - and not very far. I agree with your other points, but not this one. There are a lot of reasons to believe that a safe and effective vaccine would be more likely to lead to a containment (or even elimination, in the most optimistic case) of gonorrhea rather than just "buying time until things get bad again".
- jMyles 4y ago
  Oh yes, I agree. But what it doesn't do is stop the accelerating treadmill of antimicrobial resistance. There are many other bacteria (and, for that matter, other infectious pathogens) that will happily step up to fill the evolutionary opportunity as vaccines inhibit illness from (or even spread of) others.
- aidenn0 4y ago
  Seeing how many parents refuse the HPV vaccine for their children, I don't see any STD vaccine getting enough uptake (at least in the US) for containment, let alone elimination.
  - chimeracoder 4y ago
    > Seeing how many parents refuse the HPV vaccine for their children, I don't see any STD vaccine getting enough uptake (at least in the US) for containment, let alone elimination. Those aren't comparable. HPV vaccination needs to be administered to kids because the virus is incurable and is routinely spread to kids/adolescents through nonsexual contact. A gonorrhea vaccine can be administered only to adults, or to high-risk groups, and still be effective at a population level.
    - aidenn0 4y ago
      That's a good point. I wonder how many adults keep up-to-date on their vaccines. I was 3 years past the schedule for my Td booster, despite yearly checkups, and only got it because I asked for it from my doctor after thinking it had been a long time.
red-iron-pine 4y ago
> It's absolutely alarming that a dubious story about viral exposure at a wet market can gain so much undeserved traction worldwide, while the unquestioned use of antibiotics at factory farms elicits barely a word. There are obvious propaganda efforts here. Plus dubious though it may be, it's also possible it's the truth. Swineflu happened in similar ways. > A safe and effective vaccine, while welcome and important, only kicks this can down the road - and not very far. The threats of resistant pathogens are difficult to overstate. How does it do so? Vaccines appeared to be effective at eradicating polio and smallpox > Let's start talking seriously about this issue. Please. Tell your friends. Regardless, I do agree it is a concern.
- jMyles 4y ago
  > How does it do so? Vaccines appeared to be effective at eradicating polio and smallpox Totally - and that's why it's important work. But eradication of a specific pathogen is orthogonal to overcoming the threat of antimicrobial resistance. As long as we're offering super powers to pathogens, somebody will step up and take them.
  - jMyles 4y ago
    (I'm unable to edit, so I want to add this note: polio is not eradicated, and the discussion surrounding its purported eradication seems, to me, to have a whiff of racism or even colonialism. Although outbreaks happen and gain media notoriety in Africa, let's keep in mind that, when we started doing more serious pathogen surveillance in sewage systems during the SARS-COV-2 outbreak, we found it in the USA too.)

by jMyles 4y ago

chimeracoder 4y ago

> A safe and effective vaccine, while welcome and important, only kicks this can down the road - and not very far. I agree with your other points, but not this one. There are a lot of reasons to believe that a safe and effective vaccine would be more likely to lead to a containment (or even elimination, in the most optimistic case) of gonorrhea rather than just "buying time until things get bad again".

jMyles 4y ago
Oh yes, I agree. But what it doesn't do is stop the accelerating treadmill of antimicrobial resistance. There are many other bacteria (and, for that matter, other infectious pathogens) that will happily step up to fill the evolutionary opportunity as vaccines inhibit illness from (or even spread of) others.
aidenn0 4y ago
Seeing how many parents refuse the HPV vaccine for their children, I don't see any STD vaccine getting enough uptake (at least in the US) for containment, let alone elimination.
- chimeracoder 4y ago
  > Seeing how many parents refuse the HPV vaccine for their children, I don't see any STD vaccine getting enough uptake (at least in the US) for containment, let alone elimination. Those aren't comparable. HPV vaccination needs to be administered to kids because the virus is incurable and is routinely spread to kids/adolescents through nonsexual contact. A gonorrhea vaccine can be administered only to adults, or to high-risk groups, and still be effective at a population level.
  - aidenn0 4y ago
    That's a good point. I wonder how many adults keep up-to-date on their vaccines. I was 3 years past the schedule for my Td booster, despite yearly checkups, and only got it because I asked for it from my doctor after thinking it had been a long time.

red-iron-pine 4y ago

> It's absolutely alarming that a dubious story about viral exposure at a wet market can gain so much undeserved traction worldwide, while the unquestioned use of antibiotics at factory farms elicits barely a word. There are obvious propaganda efforts here. Plus dubious though it may be, it's also possible it's the truth. Swineflu happened in similar ways. > A safe and effective vaccine, while welcome and important, only kicks this can down the road - and not very far. The threats of resistant pathogens are difficult to overstate. How does it do so? Vaccines appeared to be effective at eradicating polio and smallpox > Let's start talking seriously about this issue. Please. Tell your friends. Regardless, I do agree it is a concern.

jMyles 4y ago
> How does it do so? Vaccines appeared to be effective at eradicating polio and smallpox Totally - and that's why it's important work. But eradication of a specific pathogen is orthogonal to overcoming the threat of antimicrobial resistance. As long as we're offering super powers to pathogens, somebody will step up and take them.
- jMyles 4y ago
  (I'm unable to edit, so I want to add this note: polio is not eradicated, and the discussion surrounding its purported eradication seems, to me, to have a whiff of racism or even colonialism. Although outbreaks happen and gain media notoriety in Africa, let's keep in mind that, when we started doing more serious pathogen surveillance in sewage systems during the SARS-COV-2 outbreak, we found it in the USA too.)