There has been an impending medical crisis since the late 1950's of antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. The plain fact of the matter is that we have a vast body of researchers devoted to comming up with new and different antibiotics, but we are running out of possibilities, and as we do so the new antibiotics are progressively more brutal to the human patients who take them.

With the rise of Vancomycin resistance doctors are simply out of options. So much so that if a Vancomycin resistant strain is identified the standard response is total quarantine. New antibiotics can no longer keep up with newly developing resistances.

There is, however, a theoretical way out. The next generation of antibiotics could be enzymatic anti-toxins, destroying the toxins that the infectious bacteria produce without destroying the bacteria itself. This is not an ideal solution, but it can buy you time to fight the infection with your own immune system, which is largely speaking better than death. The upshot of this meathod is that it does not selectively target nonresistant bacteria- even if a bacteria developed a new toxin it would not be a selective advantage, so resistance would appear slowly, if at all. The downside is that the cost will be higher and the effectiveness lower than any existing treatment.

So there are two strategies open if the next-gens get developed- we can keep using the old antibiotics for as long as they can be at all effective, and continue to give people the best available, for lower prices than the next-gens, but face a total resistance to the older, better drugs sooner.

Or we could ban the use of the older, more effective antibiotics in all but the most lifethreatening cases, allowing them to retain effectiveness for longer, but requiring that the average person pay more for a less effective product for use against common every-day infections.

Anti-biotics are perscribed far too often, which as made the problem worse.

Or we could use the simple solution: bacteriophages. What could be better than a treatment that would evolve along with the bacteria that it's killing?

Dont worry about it.

Soon we'll have a sarcophagus [like in stargate] in EVERY hospital *

Its true, even I can build one *


*disclaimer: Possibilty of talking complete bull**** , very high

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

*COUGH* SG1 MOD *COUGH*

Erm what?
How about a fix for that nasty cough I have?

Vancomyacin is a very high end anti-biotic though, and isn't used in everyday situations. There are multiple reasons for this, one being that it must be delivered intraveinously (sp?), and another is it is quite expensive.

In addition, there are already more antibiotics that are more powerful than vancomyacin, which only a decade ago WAS the top-tier antibiotic.

This information I have gathered from the fact that I have been given every single antibiotic available during one of my most severe bouts of leg infections.

The only anti-bacterial stuff I use is soap. Not sure if it really works.

Er, uncommon thread topic.

People are under the misconception that virus can be treated with antibiotics. No. Viruses =/= Bacteria. One's a complete lifeform, the other is not. But people go to doctor and say "I'm sick! Make me better!" To which the doctor says "You have X virus. Nothing serious. Just a few days rest and plenty of fluids and you'll be good as new." To which patient replies "NO! I WANT TO GET BETTER NOW PRESCRIBE ME SOMETHING!"

Actually, neither viri, nor anti-biotics are living. Both are chemical chains.

A decade ago Russians were the most experienced with this experimental treatment, I think. Dunno what the situation is now. Of course phages have been used everywhere in biological / biochemical research, but mostly not in anything medical related.

Heh, I'm going to have to ask for proof. The only thing the Russians were good at were producing biological agents that they couldn't control, and now 90%+ of those agents lie in the wasteland known as Kazakhstan.

Yeah, I thought it was common knowledge that you can't kill virii because they aren't living. Like the prions that cause Mad Cow Disease and its human equivalent (CJD).

The best thing you can do with viruses is have something else eat them, or attach to them and render them harmless. Once anti-biotic resistant bacteria expand and populate the world, then we'll be back to where we were 50 years ago. People will get sick, some will die, and the rest will be stronger from the experience. I'm not opposed to the use of anti-biotics, as long a people realize that they're only going to be as effective as long as it takes bacteria to adapt. Anti-biotics are the easy way out, and therefore will only be a temporary solution. Even when anti-biotics become obsolete, we'll still have the benefits of vaccines for things like chicken pox, mumps, and measles.

Anti-bacterial soap doesn't do much. It kills the bacteria that lives on the outside of your body. This bacteria is mostly harmless and can't enter your body anyway, unless you have an open wound or start putting your hands in your mouth a lot. This bacteria is actually beneficial to you because it eats all the food occuring naturally on your body that otherwise could be consumed by harmful bacteria and keeps the growth of outside bacteria to a minimum.

In other words, Echoman, your going to die.

Hmm. Quite the pickle of a situation.

We should develop nanites to combat the problem, and then watch as it turns into grey matter and destroys the world <_<

We should develop nanites just to make Deus Ex happen.

I can't help but assume Echoman meant he uses anti-bacterial soap as some form of acne prevention rather than something to cure him of deadly internal diseases.

I concur, Dr. R