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Re:Woman’s cancer killed by measles virus in trial by mrfusion on Thursday May 15, 2014 @08:44AM (#7749057)
Great question. I've wondered the same thing for bacterial infections. Wouldn't it lower the risk of resistant bacteria developing to always use two different types of anti-biotics, so in case a few bacteria develop a resistance to one, they're still killed by the other.
Re:Woman’s cancer killed by measles virus in trial by DaveWalk on Thursday May 15, 2014 @10:39AM (#7749646)
This is much easier for bacterial infections vs cancer -- chemotherapy is (excuse the non-medical phrase) very close to actual poison. Antibiotics are very well-tolerated, so taking two at once is something that could be done and is indeed deployed in serious infections or when there is high risk of one.
Re:Woman’s cancer killed by measles virus in trial by Fomite on Thursday May 15, 2014 @03:22PM (#7751594)
This - nearly all antibiotics target parts of the bacterial cell that humans don't have. Antifungals have the problem that many of their targets are shared between eukaryotic fungal cells and our own. Chemotherapy agents have a huge problem in that they are targeting cells that used to be our own. It's a race between toxic to cancer cells and toxic to the rest of you.
Re:Woman’s cancer killed by measles virus in trial by Fomite on Thursday May 15, 2014 @03:22PM (#7751602)
For some bacterial infections where resistance is a concern, such as TB, this is already the routine standard. See also anti-HIV medication cocktails.