House MD and the hidden infections

[Tero]

I am not really into medicine that much...though I know the stuff on the cell level, sort of. I have worked with pharmacologists on and off.

There is a book on the topic..or is it a DVD.
http://www.housemd-guide.com/music-dvd- ... cience.php

Anyway, the specific question I have is the infections that always go hide in the brain or some other organ. And they spend days tracking down the infection. What kind of amoebas, parasites, or other microcritters hide so well there are no antibodies to be found?

[mistermack]

I am not really into medicine that much...though I know the stuff on the cell level, sort of. I have worked with pharmacologists on and off.

There is a book on the topic..or is it a DVD.
http://www.housemd-guide.com/music-dvd- ... cience.php

Anyway, the specific question I have is the infections that always go hide in the brain or some other organ. And they spend days tracking down the infection. What kind of amoebas, parasites, or other microcritters hide so well there are no antibodies to be found?

A lot of our dna is thought to have originated as infectious organisms in the past, which got so efficient at the parasitic lifestyle, it actually ceased to cause illness, and just became part of our ancestor, and is still there today.

[beige]

I am not really into medicine that much...though I know the stuff on the cell level, sort of. I have worked with pharmacologists on and off.

There is a book on the topic..or is it a DVD.
http://www.housemd-guide.com/music-dvd- ... cience.php

Anyway, the specific question I have is the infections that always go hide in the brain or some other organ. And they spend days tracking down the infection. What kind of amoebas, parasites, or other microcritters hide so well there are no antibodies to be found?

A lot of our dna is thought to have originated as infectious organisms in the past, which got so efficient at the parasitic lifestyle, it actually ceased to cause illness, and just became part of our ancestor, and is still there today.

Sorta, I think they weren't so much infectious as they were symbiotic. I think it was Lynn Margulis with her endosymbiotic theory that springs to mind as particularly interesting.

[Tero]

Yeah thanks. But the modern medicine. Are parasites hard to find?

[mistermack]

Yeah thanks. But the modern medicine. Are parasites hard to find?

I haven't heard much about the problem of finding parasites. The real problem is attacking the parasite, without harming the host. The parasites have evolved in an environment where the hosts are constantly evolving antibody mechanisms of attacking any foreign material, so they have evolved to look as similar as possible to the makeup of their hosts. So anything that hurts the parasites, is likely to hurt the host as well.
Where viruses and bacteria have the advantage, is their rapid rate of reproduction.
They can evolve much quicker than humans, as illustrated by their response to the latest drugs.

I think there will come a time when the most efficient drugs will have to be prescribed under a tight legal framework, where people are compelled to take the full course, if they agree to be treated.

You've got a situation in places like India, where people can't afford the full course, so they take a shorter course, and the parasites that survive this spread in the population, breeding resistant strains. The same thing happens when the drugs are given to animals. You couldn't make it easier for viruses and bacteria to evolve resistance.

[GenesForLife]

Yeah thanks. But the modern medicine. Are parasites hard to find?

I haven't heard much about the problem of finding parasites. The real problem is attacking the parasite, without harming the host. The parasites have evolved in an environment where the hosts are constantly evolving antibody mechanisms of attacking any foreign material, so they have evolved to look as similar as possible to the makeup of their hosts. So anything that hurts the parasites, is likely to hurt the host as well.
Where viruses and bacteria have the advantage, is their rapid rate of reproduction.
They can evolve much quicker than humans, as illustrated by their response to the latest drugs.

I think there will come a time when the most efficient drugs will have to be prescribed under a tight legal framework, where people are compelled to take the full course, if they agree to be treated.

You've got a situation in places like India, where people can't afford the full course, so they take a shorter course, and the parasites that survive this spread in the population, breeding resistant strains. The same thing happens when the drugs are given to animals. You couldn't make it easier for viruses and bacteria to evolve resistance.

The issue isn't about people not being able to afford the full course, since public healthcare facilities can provide drugs for free, it is rampant overprescription combined with general ignorance about the importance of finishing a full course, since most people stop after the symptoms go away.

[mistermack]

The issue isn't about people not being able to afford the full course, since public healthcare facilities can provide drugs for free, it is rampant overprescription combined with general ignorance about the importance of finishing a full course, since most people stop after the symptoms go away.

I've never been to India, so my information is second-hand. I was really just using India as an example for a problem that's worldwide.

I saw a program recently about a new super-resistant strain of an infectious bug that originated in India, and the reporter was going to high-street shops and buying antbiotics freely without question, that should have been on prescription.
And the locals were saying that people stop taking the course when they run out of money.

Another program was about the disappearance of the Indian Vultures, over a very short period, which was a mystery that they finally tracked down to the large doses of drugs that are given to sick cows, and also in people. The vultures are unable to tolerate it, and they have always traditionally eaten the carcasses.
So now there is a feral dog problem, which are living off the carcasses of the dead cows, that the vultures used to eat.

The vultures were also in some parts getting the drugs through the human bodies that are traditionally left out for the birds to strip, in a "sky burial", like in Tibet.

It's clear that when antibiotics are freely available in ordinary shops without prescription, resistant strains of bugs are bound to develop. Human nature is the same everywhere. People will stop when they think the infection has cleared up.
I've done it myself.
My motive was that the doctor told me not to drink alcohol while taking the drug.
So I stopped because I fancied a drink.
You'll never change human nature, so it will have to be done by some form of coercion or legal contract, and restricting availability to outlets that properly supervise prescription.