"We're such a dumb species, we don't deserve to survive"- Antibiotic Resistance "Scares the hell out scientists" | |
Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 148742 United States 08/19/2009 10:02 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: "We're such a dumb species, we don't deserve to survive"- Antibiotic Resistance "Scares the hell out scientists" Another frightening element to this is the difference between what the conventional wisdom has been on the ability of microbes to mutate, versus the more shocking reality. Silbergeld says that the Darwinian idea of evolution "underestimates the brilliance of microbes": Quoting: articleMolecular biologists now understand that within a microbial community, one microbe can acquire genetic material from another microbe, even a microbe of a much different type, then incorporate it in its own genome and thus acquire resistance to an antibiotic it has not yet even encountered. It's as if bacteria are capable of downloading resistance from a gene database. Simply amazing. |
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X- FACTOR User ID: 1595 Netherlands 08/19/2009 12:09 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: "We're such a dumb species, we don't deserve to survive"- Antibiotic Resistance "Scares the hell out scientists" So if a person is biochemically speaking, pretty clean and stable, he need not worry too much about becoming infected by any bug, IMO. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 751971 Germany 08/19/2009 12:38 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: "We're such a dumb species, we don't deserve to survive"- Antibiotic Resistance "Scares the hell out scientists" I think they reported this a few years ago already. They have tested the farms and their surroundings and found quite a few strains of bacteria that were immune to every known antibiotic. Should those ever be able to transfer their immunity to bacteria that cause a more or less severe illness, we have a problem. Of course nobody will do anything about it, because those who run those farms have a strong lobby. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 748979 United States 08/19/2009 01:00 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: "We're such a dumb species, we don't deserve to survive"- Antibiotic Resistance "Scares the hell out scientists" Wasn't it that french rival scientist of Louis Pasteur in the 19th century, Beaucamp?, whose reseach indicated that bacteria are pleomorphic, meaning there are only few bacterial strains, that morph into different shapes with different(hazardous) characteristics, according to the chemical environment within the body ! For some malevolent reason his proven theory got supplanted by Pasteurs', hence the needless complex approach to bacterial combat and its huge costs involved. So if a person is biochemically speaking, pretty clean and stable, he need not worry too much about becoming infected by any bug, IMO. [/quote That makes sense. We love to dissect and label stuff, but in the process we overlook the obvious fact that there are only a few common causes behind a multiplicity of symptoms. My daughter won (!) a book called POX, about the history of syphilis. It is fascinating. Called 'The Great Imitator' because it could mimic SO MANY different disease symptoms. Long after the initial infection. We think antibiotics have 'wiped it out' and it is amazing how fast such a dreadful disease fell off the radar, but in fact it is just under the radar right now. |