Potential Cure For Antibiotic Resistant Infections 127
kpw10 writes to let us know about research to be published this week that offers hope in the battle against multi-drug-resistant bacteria. "Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered that two drugs used to treat bone loss in old folks can both kill and short-circuit the 'sex life' of antibiotic-resistant bacteria blamed for nearly 100,000 hospital deaths across the country each year."
Why use Drugs? (Score:5, Funny)
Um, doesn't marriage do the same thing?
Just asking, because it would certainly save a lot of money if we just get these bacteria to marry.
Re:Okay, I'll bite ... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Why use Drugs? (Score:2, Funny)
Find some new bait. (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe scientists could find some other critter that the bugs like better, like cockroaches or the small dogs that live in women's purses.
Let the bacteria read slashdot (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Why use Drugs? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Why use Drugs? (Score:3, Funny)
Next you'll be pushing your agenda with books like "Johnny has Streptococcal Pharyngitis For a Daddy". For shame.
Re:No problem... (Score:3, Funny)
The microbes, or the patients?
Re:No problem... (Score:0, Funny)
Yes.
Re:Existing drugs are GOOD things (Score:3, Funny)
In other news, Viagra has been shown to reduce bone lose in old men.
No comment,
OwenDMoney
Re:Okay, I'll bite ... (Score:3, Funny)
But that would imply that these organisms evolve. That's impossible! [ucomics.com]
Another Direction (Score:2, Funny)
Hang on there! This logic of combinations of drugs and such has been tried for a long time. The results always rapidly decline in value. Even if this combination works for now, it will fail in a short period of time.
There is a better way! the USA Laser [usalaser.biz] guys have a tool that could best be described as the Atom Bomb of medicine. It is a very simple system that exposes a person to an intense short duration flash from an IR laser. This device does several wonderful things. The first is that it essentially sterilizes the exposed zone of the person from most bacteria and virus agents. This is really profound and very nearly instantaneous. The next effect is by photoelectric effect it takes the cells of the person in the area exposed and drives them up to full operational energy essentially stopping any tissue destruction cascades.
This process causes nearly instant reduction of edema in exposed tissue. Yes our soldiers exposed to traumatic brain injury could be healed this way because the laser is intense enough to shine right through a person's head. This system also supports rapid tissue healing at rates in the order of 10 times normal. Tissue differentiation to the correct tissue type rather than scar or adhesion types is also greatly improved.
Antibiotics are well named. They are anti-life. This problem with using them in treatment means that their use is a trade off between the death they cause in a patient vs the death they cause in the infectious agent. Wouldn't something better be a good idea?