Words about science and hiking
It’s not unusual to see headlines like this in health journalism: Antibiotic Resistance Is Now as Big a Threat as Climate Change To be fair, the article itself is not nearly so hysterical; in fact it doesn’t even mention climate change. Yet some editor thinks that this nonsense is an appropriate way to summarize the Read More …
Once in a while you see an idea that is both so brilliant and so obvious that you just have to smack your head and ask “Why has no one thought of this before? Why didn’t I think of it?”. There’s a general consensus that broad-spectrum antibiotics are over-used. The consequences are many and egregious: Read More …
No one questions that antibiotic resistance has risen in the last 20 years and has contributed to a substantial number of deaths. But this is a high-level question, and it deserves a high-level answer. Antibiotics prevent death and suffering from bacterial infections. That’s the criterion by which the effectiveness of antibiotic therapy should be judged. Read More …
I’ve suggested that antibiotic resistance will lead to improvements in healthcare: when hospitals cannot reliably treat infections, they are forced to prevent them (which they should have been doing all along). That change in emphasis necessarily requires a change in culture. Infection treatment is largely driven by individual practitioners, but effective infection prevention requires cooperation Read More …
It seems like a good idea. After all, combination therapy of antivirals for HIV treatment transformed AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable chronic condition. But bacteria are not viruses. The scenario in which combining antibiotics makes most sense is when long-term therapy is anticipated—such as for TB treatment. Development of resistance to single Read More …
Let’s step back a bit on this question. We care about antibiotics and antibiotic resistance because they impact our ability to avoid suffering and death due to bacterial infections. Antibiotics are just a means to an end. Antibiotic resistance blocks one path to that end, but it is just one path; there are others. I’ll Read More …
A new report of widespread colonization and infection by a superbug- (carbapenemase-resistant Klebsiella) is just out, and it is truly alarming. Not sure why it hasn’t cracked the mainstream press yet. I don’t have access to the full report, but Jon Otter has published a good summary which I will quote here, although you absolutely should Read More …
I’m going to take a break from writing about terrible phage therapy papers. Frankly, they are all very much alike, as the same errors get repeated over and over. It’s depressing for me to write these posts and I suspect it is getting to be a bit boring for you to read them. So let’s Read More …
Our healthcare system is oriented toward cures, not prevention. Outlays for public health measures have never been more than 2-3% of total healthcare spending, and this small amount is falling – even though we know that every dollar spent returns several dollars in benefits. We could blame greedy doctors or pharmas or hospitals, or more Read More …
The FDA today cleared a new drug for treating influenza, the first in 20 years. Xofluza (baloxovir) appears to have about the same efficacy as oseltamivir in reducing symptoms of patients with uncomplicated influenza infections. Maybe a little better: From Baloxavir Marboxil for Uncomplicated Influenza in Adults and Adolescents Baloxavir attacks a different target (RNA replication) Read More …