31–40 of 86 posts
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No, just an ear infection. More annoying than anything. Although it does supposedly carry some risk of hearing loss should it come back hard.
Sorry to hear that. Been dealing with similar of the sinuses myself for about the same period of time. Definitely no fun, but this does sound promising. Good luck to us all.
It's nice to know that despite all the alarmist articles about the end of antibiotics, good progress is being made. If this works, it could completely replace traditional antibiotics. In that case, I could see dozens of new drugs in this class developed by the antibiotic companies. This would be similar to the race to develop new antidepressants, HIV drugs, and erectile dysfunction drugs. Any drug you have to take ov…
This is really fantastic news but I too am skeptical of the drug companies being interested in a cure as opposed to a repeatable treatment. As a side note the article seems very well written for non-medical folks like myself.
Believe me, in the infectious disease space, drug companies tend to look for cures and prevention. For example, Merck and GSK spent staggering amounts of money on the HPV vaccine.
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Do you know if NIH uses any of their funding in a DARPA like manner?
They do this to a certain extent, but the problem here is that the "R" part of "R&D" is not really at issue. While there's a lot of focus in the popular press on "finding" new antibiotics, that part can be addressed by basic research grants. I don't believe we're wanting for proof of concept kinds of things. Unlike with engineering, where once you've got a proof of concept, you can refine and iterate to make it produ…
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You're right that it's about profits when pharma is involved, but you are wrong about the reason (otherwise vaccines would not exist). I can tell you from firsthand experience that the length of time someone is on a drug makes almost no difference in where research priorities are. The primary issue with antibiotics is that since the late 1990's, if you succeed, and you develop the best antibiotic the world has ever s…
Vaccines are a bit of a different class as some are exempt from adverse reaction lawsuits and therefore risk is reduced for the companies manufacturing the vaccine. I think your assessment that my argument is "wrong" is inappropriate. You'll see that my argument is supported by the WHO (Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2011;89:88–89). >Another reason is commercial. Antibiotics, in particular, have a poor ret…
I also really don't buy the "return on investment" argument, as curing a bacterial disease rarely provides immunity.
It's also not my experience as a researcher in the area - several drug companies are actively funding research.
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> I have had one of those for almost a decade now. Sinuses?
No, just an ear infection. More annoying than anything. Although it does supposedly carry some risk of hearing loss should it come back hard.
You need to do an elimination diet, SCD diet, and eliminate all grains temporarily.
Curing this with antibiotics would only be a temporary solution, and antibiotics in general are not a good strategy for dealing with long term infections.
It's nice to know that despite all the alarmist articles about the end of antibiotics, good progress is being made. If this works, it could completely replace traditional antibiotics. In that case, I could see dozens of new drugs in this class developed by the antibiotic companies. This would be similar to the race to develop new antidepressants, HIV drugs, and erectile dysfunction drugs. Any drug you have to take ov…
This won't completely replace traditional antibiotics. As the article states this acts on Gram positive persister cells (a very specific group). The coming storm is from Gram negative bacteria such as Klebsiella, Actinetobacter and Pseudomonas. There is actually very little activity occurring in the field of antibiotic drug discovery and you identified the issue; no money in drugs that someone takes for 14 days and s…
You wonder of course why, if that is the case (and I do agree), that the government doesn't get involved with more funding or subsidies for these types of less profitable drugs. The same way they spend countless dollars on other things for the public good (and company profit obviously).
The most understated portion of the article is that there is a method discovered that can kill biofilms. The discovery of new antibiotics and delivery techniques leaves me less optimistic for long-term change in the availability of life-saving antibiotics. I suspect bacteria can, and will, evolve around almost any mitigating technique we develop. Yet I'm optimistic, because tools that crack biofilms are a new are of…
>I suspect bacteria can, and will, evolve around almost any mitigating technique we develop. That's a baseless suspicion. Bacteria are ultimately bound by physical laws, and while they've proven resilient, there's no reason to suggest we will be unable to develop the means to annihilate them at will. Humans are creative - bacteria just evolve fast. I agree about the importance of the biofilm claim, but what they don'…
For example: "DRACO" antivirals from MIT, were developed in 2011, and according to mouse model tests and tests on cultured human cells, is safe and effective against influenza and rhinovirus and everything else they threw at it (see http://mackinstitute.wharton.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/20... for details), and yet it could be a decade before we even try to answer questions like "wait, does this cure HIV? It sounds like it might actually cure HIV"
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Sorry to hear that. Been dealing with similar of the sinuses myself for about the same period of time. Definitely no fun, but this does sound promising. Good luck to us all.
Have you tried nose rinses? My ENT prescribed those and that helped.
Seriously, I've tried pretty much everything (medical and alternative). And, actually, the saline rinses helped some, but didn't prevent the infection from re-emerging or clear it once it did.
Then, someone mentioned adding fresh garlic (steeped, like tea) to the saline rinse. Sounded nuts so I didn't bother for a year. Finally got fed up enough to try it and amazed to find that it works better than any medical treatment thus far. I'd recommend it, but it's a pain to prepare, smells, and is not a cure (i.e. you have to continue to do it regularly to keep the infection at bay).
That's why something like the subject post is hopeful.