How big a threat will be drug resistant diseases be in the future?

I heard not long ago about a mutant strain of HIV that's starting to go around and things like drug resistant Tuberculosis and drug resistant Syphilis(that has started to be seen). I think Drug resistant disease will be extremely troublesome in the future because People are being treated or they're not taking the medicines the way they were told to by doctors. What do Y'all think?

The threat is becoming a huge issue. With 34 million people with HIV around the world the problems are immensly multiplying.

Tuberculosis and Aids are a co-morbid disease. Those that have TB generally in the third world, quit their medications early as once they feel better. This causes radical mutations in the disease.

Here is an informative link with statistics on Hiv:

www.avert.org...

There is HIV 1 & 2 with other subtype classes that are more deadly.

Also keep in mind we are experiencing a huge number of untreatable staph infections (MRSA) in the U.S.

Yes, we are going to see more drug resistant diseases. Hopefully, there will be advances in medicine to thwart these things in the future.

Explanation: There is nothing to fear as the solution is here....

Bacteriophage [wiki]

Phage vs Staph [time.com]

Phage Medicine [abc.net.au]

Personal Disclosure:

P.S. S&F!

I think Drug resistant disease will be extremely troublesome in the future because People are being treated or they're not taking the medicines the way they were told to by doctors. What do Y'all think?

I think you sound like a govt shill. Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it, I'm sure. The "y'all" is a nice touch though!


I know, I know, it's just a job to you, and hey, who knows what I'd do for a little extra cash with the economy like it is. But here's a little context: in the near future, there will be a "mutation" of h1n1, POD emergency vax clinics will be set up, and the loving govt will do their best to manipulate people into getting vax'ed. But maybe you knew all that already. How do you sleep at night?

from the word doc at www2a.cdc.gov...

>> NOW, COMMANDER REISSMAN, YOU MENTIONED SOMETHING AT BEGINNING OF THE BROADCAST THAT I WANT TO GET BACK TO. YOU SAID THERE WERE TWO MAIN JOBS THAT PUBLIC INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION WOULD HAVE TO ACCOMPLISH WHEN THE PODs ARE ACTIVATED. THE FIRST PART WAS GETTING PEOPLE TO THE PODs. THE SECOND PART WAS GETTING THEM TO TAKE THE MEDICATIONS AND COMPLY WITH THEIR INSTRUCTIONS AFTER THEY LEAVE THE POD. WHY WOULDN'T SOMEONE TAKE THE MEDICATIONS THEY RECEIVED?

>> WELL, JOE, THERE COULD BE ANY NUMBER OF REASONS, REALLY. THEY MIGHT GET HOME AND START TO THINK IT WAS ALL A FALSE ALARM. PERHAPS THEY REALIZED THEY'RE JUST NOT COMFORTABLE TAKING A BUNCH OF MEDICINE THAT GOT HANDED TO THEM IN A GOVERNMENT DISPENSING SITE IN THE MIDDLE OF AN EMERGENCY.

OR MAYBE THEY'VE HEARD AN UNSUBSTANTIATED RUMOR THAT THE MEDICATION WILL HURT MORE THAN IT HELPS. WE HUMANS CAN TALK OURSELVES INTO AND OUT OF JUST ABOUT ANYTHING. AND PEOPLE'S RESPONSES DURING A CRISIS MIGHT NOT BE THE SAME RESPONSES THEY'D NORMALLY EXHIBIT. WE MUST HAVE AN OVERALL APPROACH THAT INSPIRES CONFIDENCE. I LIKE TO THINK OF IT IN TERMS OF MALCOLM GLADWELL'S "THE TIPPING POINT." THE TIPPING POINT IS THAT MOMENT WHEN AN EVENT OR AN ACTION OR EVEN A PERCEPTION TAKES HOLD AND STRONGLY INFLUENCES A REACTION OR A BEHAVIOR AT THE GROUP LEVEL. IN OTHER WORDS, IT'S WHEN EVERYONE GETS FED UP AND REFUSES TO TAKE THEIR MEDICATION OR WHEN EVERYONE GETS ON BOARD AND WORKS TOWARD THE COMMON GOAL OF MEDICATION COMPLIANCE.

>> WHAT ARE SOME STRATEGIES WE CAN USE TO TIP THE SCALE IN FAVOR OF MEDICATION COMPLIANCE?

>> WELL, THERE ARE SEVERAL SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS WE CAN WORK ON TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE TAKE THEIR MEDICATION. WE NEED TO REMEMBER THAT COMMUNITY COHESIVENESS AND POSITIVE SOCIAL INFLUENCES ARE A POSITIVE FACTOR. KEEP IN MIND THAT PEOPLE RARELY ACT IN ISOLATION. THEY'LL TURN TO PERSONAL PHYSICIANS OR COLLEAGUES FOR ADVICE. OUR JOB INCLUDES EDUCATING INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC, BUT ALSO EDUCATING THE INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN THEIR LIVES. THAT'S WHY TAPPING INTO CULTURAL NETWORKS TO DISSEMINATE INFORMATION IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT. ALL THIS IS PART OF AN EFFECTIVE METHOD FOR GETTING PEOPLE TO TAKE THEIR MEDICINE. PRODUCTIVE BACK-AND-FORTH COMMUNICATION AMONG LEADERS, PUBLIC HEALTH, AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS ESSENTIAL TO DELIVERING THE MESSAGE OF MEDICATION COMPLIANCE.

Sorry, I get a bit touchy about being "cognitively infiltrated"....

reply to post by jcrash


i'm definately not a government employee or operative. I work in retail,so with the economy,I'm lucky to have a job.

reply to post by jcrash


This is a fairly benign post. Going as far to claim the OP is a government shill is bordering on the paranoid side. Take a chill pill dude.

Do you get paid by the post, or by the word?

Anyway, why don't you tell me your opinion about what I wrote. Or would that give too much credence to my filthy conspiracy theories?

Screw the drugs. Herbs, spices, essential oils, and nutrients are all we need to bump our immune system and fight off infections. Nature has provided us with the necessary treatments. From here all that's left is the wisdom not to fret. Stress lowers the immune system as well. Disease will rise no matter what. We've unleashed a nasty mix into the ecosystem from various toxins, heavy metals, pathogens, GMO, and nanotechnology. Only the fittest will survive. Carry on.

[edit on 17-1-2010 by unityemissions]

Originally posted by unityemissions
Screw the drugs. Herbs, spices, and nutrients is all we need to bump our immune system and fight off infections. Nature has provided us with the necessary treatments. From here all that's left is the wisdom not to fret. Stress lowers the immune system as well. Disease will rise no matter what. We've unleashed a nasty mix into the ecosystem from various toxins, heavy metals, pathogens, GMO, and nanotechnology. Only the fittest will survive. Carry on.

I agree with you for the most part. However, no matter how good your nutrional intake is, it will not cure aids, TB or any viral disease for that matter. Drugs have saved many peoples lives including my own.

And no one paid me to write this.

This post is going off topic. What other diseases are becoming less able to treat? I would like to stay on Topic with the OP.

Originally posted by brilab45

Originally posted by unityemissions
Screw the drugs. Herbs, spices, and nutrients is all we need to bump our immune system and fight off infections. Nature has provided us with the necessary treatments. From here all that's left is the wisdom not to fret. Stress lowers the immune system as well. Disease will rise no matter what. We've unleashed a nasty mix into the ecosystem from various toxins, heavy metals, pathogens, GMO, and nanotechnology. Only the fittest will survive. Carry on.

I agree with you for the most part. However, no matter how good your nutrional intake is, it will not cure aids, TB or any viral disease for that matter. Drugs have saved many peoples lives including my own.

And no one paid me to write this.

This post is going off topic. What other diseases are becoming less able to treat? I would like to stay on Topic with the OP.

On the contrary, excellent nutrition and a healthy body are the best cures for these things.
Anti-virals only reduce viral load, there are no pharmaceuticals which cure viral infection.

The only thing that can cure a viral infection you have caught is your own body.

Drugs save some lives, but do you know the rate of iatrogenic disease in America? It's frightening.

reply to post by Kailassa


To the contrary....TB, Malaria, cholera, dengue fever are cured by medicine. Not good nutrution.

And yes, I am very aware of that many doctors should not be practicing medicine. Having been personally maltreated by physicians, this is a common practice. Kinda like when a waitress does not like you....she spits in your food. I was unaware of the term. Thanks for the education.

Originally posted by brilab45
reply to post by Kailassa

 

To the contrary....TB, Malaria, cholera, dengue fever are cured by medicine. Not good nutrution.

And yes, I am very aware of that many doctors should not be practicing medicine. Having been personally maltreated by physicians, this is a common practice. Kinda like when a waitress does not like you....she spits in your food. I was unaware of the term. Thanks for the education.

We were discussing, in your words,

aids, TB or any viral disease,

and you suddenly throw in malaria, which is a parasitic infection, and cholera, which is a bacterial disease? Those are very clumsy straw men, as I never said good nutrition could cure these things. Or were you ignorant of the fact that these are not viral?

However it's common knowledge that even with malaria and cholera, a malnourished person has a greater chance of death than a well nourished person.

People who argue against the usefulness of nutrition seem to forget the basic fact that our bodies are designed to defeat disease. Our protective and repair mechanisms are quite wonderful, and have enabled the survival of the human race so far. However, for these systems to work well, they must have the right building blocks. These are supplied by good nutrition.

A young, fit, well nourished body can defeat almost any illness. As we grow older we become more susceptible in some ways, as older people need higher proportions of vitamins in their food to stay healthy, but this is counteracted by an immune system which has developed ways to cope with the local bacteriological and viral invaders.

I will continue with a discussion of the relevance of nutrition to TB.

The relationship between malnutrition and tuberculosis: evidence from studies in humans and experimental animals.

Malnutrition is an important risk factor for tuberculosis (TB) because cell-mediated immunity (CMI) is the key host defense against TB.4,6,7 In malnourished individuals, the likelihood is increased of primary or latent infection progressing to active disease.

In populations with substantial latent TB infection, the occurrence of malnutrition may be an important determinant of the incidence of TB. The potential public health impact of malnutrition on the global incidence of TB was summarized in the US Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition and Health which emphasized that malnutrition was the leading cause of acquired, correctable immune system dysfunction throughout the world.
. . . .
During most of the war, neutral Denmark exported the bulk of its meat, fish, poultry and dairy products to the extent that the local diet lacked these protein, vitamin, and mineral rich foods. Tuberculosis rates climbed, as they did in the warring countries. The German blockade of Denmark in 1918, however, created a surfeit of these foods, and tuberculosis rates plummeted. In contrast, tuberculosis rates in the neighboring warring countries continued to climb unabated.
The second study involves the Trondheim, Norway, Naval Training School where the high rate of tuberculosis among recruits in the early 20th century was ascribed to crowded, poor housing and unhygienic conditions. However, tuberculosis rates did not decrease after improved housing and hygiene were implemented. Diet was subsequently fortified with margarine, cod liver oil, whole wheat bread, fresh fruits and vegetables, and milk, and tuberculosis morbidity promptly dropped to the prevailing level for young adults of that area.

TB & Nutrition

"A principal determinant of mortality from tuberculosis is nutrition. Mortality from T.B. increases considerably as one passes from the economically prosperous to the poor districts of any area."---Major Greenwood (Epidemic and Crowd Diseases, 1925.) Source: www.health.org.nz...

"We see the same thing in Sweden, though to a less marked degree. The rise in tuberculosis mortality was recorded in 1914-1916, and in those years the consumption of bread and flour rose, whereas that of meat decreased. After 1916 we see a steady and continuous fall in tuberculosis mortality, and at the same time flour foods fell off while the consumption of meat and fish rose rapidly. It may be added too, that in England, a rise in tuberculosis mortality coincided with a lower consumption of meat and butter and an increased consumption of flour foods. ...There has been a similar rise in tuberculosis mortality in practically all belligerent countries in Europe during and since World War II and for exactly similar reasons, namely, a great reduction in the consumption of protein foods, such as, meat, fish, and eggs, along with an increased consumption of the more available and cheaper starchy foodstuffs."--Sandler MD (Diet Prevents Polio)

Tuberculosis and Vitamin C

"Irwin Stone in his book, The Healing Factor, Vitamin C Against Disease (Grosset & Dunlap, 1972) on pages 80 to 83 cites several papers which in effect show that the efficacy of vitamin C against tuberculosis increases with the doses used. Researchers for years have seemed not to get the idea that vitamin C is only a vitamin out of their minds. Repeated studies have shown that vitamin C in low doses helps against tuberculosis but the vitamin C becomes more effective as the doses are increased."--Dr Saul doctoryourself.com

"Linus Pauling in his book, Vitamin C, the Common Cold and the Flu (W.H. Freeman and Company, 1976) on page 69 cites Boissevin and Sillane (1937) who showed that an ascorbate concentration of 1 mg/deciliter, which is easily reached in the blood, prevents the growth of cultures of the tuberculosis bacterium. Boissevain, CH, Spillane, JH. Effects of Synthetic Ascorbic Acid on the Growth of Tuberculosis Bacillus. American Review of Tuberculosis, 35:661-662. www.orthomed.com... "--Dr Saul doctoryourself.com

That pretty well proves the case for the importance of nutrition in treating TB, so let's go on to cholera and dengue fever.

Dengue Fever

This was a really silly one to bring up as an example of a disease needing medical treatment and not being treatable by nutrition. There is no drug on the market to cure Dengue Fever at all! The only treatment for this is to rest and build one's health. And how do you do that? Through nutrition.

It's particularly funny brilab45 chose this example because I have had several patients with this, and Ross River Fever, (which is common in Australia,) referred to me by local doctors as these patients had chronic illness from these diseases and I have a reputation for success in treating them. My treatments are simple, and are based on a healthy diet with certain vitamin and mineral supplements.



Cholera is an infectious gastroenteritis caused by enterotoxin-producing strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.

Home Remedies for Cholera

Bay essential oils is commonly used as an antiseptic, analgesic, antibiotic, astringent, anti-neuralgic, insecticide, febrifuge, sedative, and so forth. This is one of the good cholera treatment.

Bay essential oils are highly concentrated with Eugenol, which can cause irritation to the skin and mucus membrane. You should read the instructions before using the oils. This is one of the natural remedy for cholera.

As this has not been properly tested, and I live in a country where it is not used traditionally, I wouldn't know whether oil of bay is useful in treating cholera. However we do not have proof it does not work, either. If I had cholera and had no medical treatment available I'd certainly be trying it.



And now for Malaria, which is caused by a plasmodium parasite.

Commercial pharmaceutical treatments are not necessarily the only, or even the best, methods of treatment.

Some herbal remedies (such as Artemisia annua tea) have also been developed, and have gained support from international organisations such as Médicins Sans Frontières.

By putting 5/7 grams of artemisia dried leaves in 1 liter of boiling water and drinking the infusion for 7 days, 4 times a day, the efficacy seems to be comparable to those obtained by taking the conventional antimalarial drugs.
. . .
The encouraging results obtained so far support the effectiveness of the tea in malaria falciparum treatment, showing it is a viable alternative to quinine and other conventional drugs against which the plasmodium has already developed resistant strains in different geographical areas.

For the most part of the world population (about 70 per cent), deprived of access to effective commercial drugs, growing this plant and administering the tea would mean appropriating a costless treatment of proven effectiveness, available locally following a short controlled cultivation test.

It always amazes me how many propaganda-swallowing posters believe in pharmaceuticals as though they are some miracle cure, and believe no cures can be found elsewhere. And this ignorant, health-denying attitude is paraded as "intelligence". If only intelligence could be gained so easily, - we could all become geniuses by closing our eyes to common sense and to well researched facts on nutrition, and burying our heads in the sand.

reply to post by MDSJR1967


Its a huge problem for a number of reasons.

First, while drugs are amazing and save lives and will continue to save lives, as these diseases mutate and become drug resistant, the best minds in the industry will be placed in catch-up mode due to resources. It will divert them from tackling diseases for which we don't have good remedys.

Second, medicine will become more expensive. Existing diseases have drugs that are well into the generic market. New drugs will come with new patents and we'll be back on the non-generic wagon again.

Third, the third world will be especially hard hit due to both of the above coupled with the difficulties in distributing drugs in many of these areas.

Good nutrition is a key as is making the decision to live a lifestyle that helps build the immune system.

Drugs are great, but a high quality and healthy lifestyle are in many cases the things that keep you from getting sick and are equally important.