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My Husband Became a Poster Child of the Post-Antibiotic Era

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Re: My Husband Became a Poster Child of the Post-Antibiotic Era

#81

Post by rini17 »

NyashMyash wrote: post #73

I'm russian. And for me this article sounds completely idiotic - phage research was always ongoing in SU and literally everyone is aware of the alternative to antibiotics. At the moment there are lab networks available across all the modern russia where you may take a test and find a best phage to your bacterias. One of several mass-produced phages. Moreover, if you dig into soviet medicine, you may find several awes…

Is it possible to order some to the EU? I'm having unfortunate combination of staph infection+ ciprofloxacin intolerance.

Re: My Husband Became a Poster Child of the Post-Antibiotic Era

#82

Post by ddebernardy »

AllegedAlec wrote: post #75
whytaka wrote: post #58

It’s been a number of years now that I have become aware of MRSA and superbugs. The moment I read on this is also the moment I have come to be aware of phage therapy as a promising path of overcoming this new threat. This article yet again reports on the lack of awareness about bacteriophages in the medical community. I just can’t understand why it is like that. I, an idiot, have heard about it. How do people, who se…

> This article yet again reports on the lack of awareness about bacteriophages in the medical community. A shortlist of answers: - Bacteriophages are evolutionarily close to viruses. Their proteins will resemble viral proteins, so the body will most likely initiate an immune response against it. - Bacteriophages are really quite specific in what they'll infect. This makes them much less useful as an antibacterial. Yo…

Those are all potentially valid reasons to not pay much attention to it as a solution for multi-resistant bacteria.

However, none of them explain why medical professionals are not even aware that bacteriophages are a thing, in contrast with laypeople like the parent poster (or myself, and presumably many more on HN since there have been a few articles on this topic over the years).

Re: My Husband Became a Poster Child of the Post-Antibiotic Era

#83

Post by chimen »

Stratoscope wrote: post #57
Simon_says wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would settle for people not coughing an sneezing into their hands and then immediately touching everything in their vicinity. I see everyone around me doing this and it disgusts me. (For the record, a better way to handle it is to sneeze into the inside of your elbow or immediately wash your hands after.)

It could be worse. Where I work, a few weeks ago I saw somebody lick his fingers and then reach into the container of forks and feel around for a while, apparently to find just the right fork. I was guessing he had dry skin and had trouble picking up a fork unless he moistened his fingers first? In any case I quietly went to a different container to get my own fork.

I wouldn't go quietly but that's just me, fighting the windmills :).

Re: My Husband Became a Poster Child of the Post-Antibiotic Era

#84

Post by benj111 »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #78
benj111 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"One thing contributing to the rise of antibiotic resistance is poor santitation in developing countries. Another is poverty." I assume this is why you were getting downvotes? I was going to too, but it does actually check out. https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/antibiotic-abuse-in-...

The very article we are discussing talks about a man getting an antibiotic resistant infection in Egypt, then being flown to Germany and eventually the US with the infection still unresolved. It terms it "Iraqibacter" and gives a brief origin of this class of microbes as starting in the Middle East and being exported to Europe and America. So if that line you quoted is getting me downvotes, then everyone downvoting m…

The quoted comment could read as just blaming poorer people etc, which is how I read it at first, after further digging the comment seems justified. Reading your comment I can't see another reason for the downvote, and antibiotic resistance being more common in developing nations wasn't something I was that aware of, so I was confirming to others you aren't being racist or anything.

Maybe they should have done their own research? I don't know. The sample size of one in the article by itself doesn't justify the sweeping statement you made.

Ultimately and unfortunately people will say unsubstantiated and unpleasant things and some reasonable comments get caught in people's 'spam filter'.

Re: My Husband Became a Poster Child of the Post-Antibiotic Era

#86

Post by mrob »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #79
autokad wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

its my understanding that "Blue blood" comes from the fact that most of them were pale and you can really see their blue veins, not that they were all poisoned by their silverware. its my understanding that silverware is very safe, and getting silver poisoning from eating off it is extremely unlikely. they'd have to be eating their silverware to notice any difference

The term “blue blood” came to be associated with the aristocracy simply because it was not uncommon in earlier times for European nobility to have skin that appeared to have a blue cast. The bluish (or sometimes greenish) discoloration of their skin was often caused by a condition known as Argyria. Argyria it the result of ingested silver particles that are not able to pass through the body. Historically, this was ca…

If this is true, why doesn't it show up in paintings? Your source is written by a "color expert", not a historian, and she cites no evidence. The veins showing through pale skin theory sounds more likely to me.

Re: My Husband Became a Poster Child of the Post-Antibiotic Era

#87

Post by robbiep »

ddebernardy wrote: post #82
AllegedAlec wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This article yet again reports on the lack of awareness about bacteriophages in the medical community. A shortlist of answers: - Bacteriophages are evolutionarily close to viruses. Their proteins will resemble viral proteins, so the body will most likely initiate an immune response against it. - Bacteriophages are really quite specific in what they'll infect. This makes them much less useful as an antibacterial. Yo…

Those are all potentially valid reasons to not pay much attention to it as a solution for multi-resistant bacteria. However, none of them explain why medical professionals are not even aware that bacteriophages are a thing, in contrast with laypeople like the parent poster (or myself, and presumably many more on HN since there have been a few articles on this topic over the years).

The medical profession is aware, they just aren’t scaled up for use in any meaningful sense - essentially to be able to meaningfully fight bacterial infections with phases a hospital or clinic would need to type the bacteria and screen it against potentially hundreds or more phages (even if they are already specific to the bacteria) to find the ones that are going to be most effective. So, there are time constraints, delivery mechanisms and also logistics to overcome.

A challenge for a startup?

Re: My Husband Became a Poster Child of the Post-Antibiotic Era

#88

Post by StreamBright »

rini17 wrote: post #81
NyashMyash wrote: post #73

I'm russian. And for me this article sounds completely idiotic - phage research was always ongoing in SU and literally everyone is aware of the alternative to antibiotics. At the moment there are lab networks available across all the modern russia where you may take a test and find a best phage to your bacterias. One of several mass-produced phages. Moreover, if you dig into soviet medicine, you may find several awes…

Is it possible to order some to the EU? I'm having unfortunate combination of staph infection+ ciprofloxacin intolerance.

https://www.rbth.com/lifestyle/326184-foreigner-medical-assi...

Re: My Husband Became a Poster Child of the Post-Antibiotic Era

#89

Post by DoreenMichele »

mrob wrote: post #86
DoreenMichele wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The term “blue blood” came to be associated with the aristocracy simply because it was not uncommon in earlier times for European nobility to have skin that appeared to have a blue cast. The bluish (or sometimes greenish) discoloration of their skin was often caused by a condition known as Argyria. Argyria it the result of ingested silver particles that are not able to pass through the body. Historically, this was ca…

If this is true, why doesn't it show up in paintings? Your source is written by a "color expert", not a historian, and she cites no evidence. The veins showing through pale skin theory sounds more likely to me.

Paintings were very expensive, upper class commodities. They frequently idealized their subjects.

One British king had portraits delivered to him of a potential mate and was disappointed when she showed up and wasn't as attractive as her portrait. One source mocked him for it, saying he should have realized it was probably idealized, after all, it was his own portrait artist he sent, a guy who had been making him look good for years.

Colloidal silver still sometimes causes blue skin:

https://supplementpolice.com/colloidal-silver/

See also: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyria

Re: My Husband Became a Poster Child of the Post-Antibiotic Era

#90

Post by NeedMoreTea »

mrob wrote: post #86
DoreenMichele wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The term “blue blood” came to be associated with the aristocracy simply because it was not uncommon in earlier times for European nobility to have skin that appeared to have a blue cast. The bluish (or sometimes greenish) discoloration of their skin was often caused by a condition known as Argyria. Argyria it the result of ingested silver particles that are not able to pass through the body. Historically, this was ca…

If this is true, why doesn't it show up in paintings? Your source is written by a "color expert", not a historian, and she cites no evidence. The veins showing through pale skin theory sounds more likely to me.

It derives from middle ages Spanish racism. Visible veins to show their fine white skinned blood wasn't contaminated by the dark skinned Moors.

The Moors occupied territory in parts of what is now Spain and Portugal for nearly a thousand years.

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