Re:Engineered phages help teenager with antibiotic-resistant...
by _bxg1 on Thursday May 09, 2019 @11:28PM
(#19874817)
Playing the part of the optimist, I think we'll always be able to outsmart our ailments in the long run. It's startling to see an arms race start with antibiotics, because we've been winning in that arena with very little effort for over a century, but having to get creative again and being totally helpless against a coming apocalypse are two different things.
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Re:Engineered phages help teenager with antibiotic-resistant...
by iso1337 on Friday May 10, 2019 @12:22AM
(#19875033)
Able to? Yes.
Willing to? Not as much.
Just consider the following: 1) it’s been so long since people have first hand witness of the horrors of smallpox, polio, etc. So long that anti-vax is alive and well in affluent, educated enclaves. 2) antibiotics are not profitable. Achaogen tried but the business case just wasn’t there. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-03/antibioti...
So I agree with your last statement that we at not totally helpless, but I do think (as with global climate change or deferred maintenance on levees) there has to be an immediate and pressing need for people to put their money and actions in the right place.
Re:Engineered phages help teenager with antibiotic-resistant...
by adrianN on Friday May 10, 2019 @03:29AM
(#19875827)
It's not that hard actually. We just have to cycle through the various antibiotic components with a sufficiently long cycle time (so that any resistances have time to disappear from the gene pool) and stop overusing antibiotics, especially for livestock.