h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Finagle's Law:

Every solution to a problem generates new problems needing solutions.

The common cold. I had it a few weeks ago. It wasn't as bad as it's been in the past, although it did trigger my asthma which doesn't normally happen. I managed to get over it and had about a week symptom-free. Now it's back, or I've caught it again. Just in time to spoil what was going to be a good weekend away.

I agree. Considering some of the mind-bendingly awesome stuff humans have invented and can do (including the well-worn phrase begining "we can send a man to the moon but we still can't..."), I find it outragiously unfathomable that there's still no universal and dependable cure for the common cold.
Vested interests methinks. Whatever the reason, colds have ruined many a holiday or looked-forward to event over the years

Well colds are viral and viruses evolve quickly and constantly.


Speaking of which... We're possibly heading toward a global crisis with antibiotic resistant infections. Over-prescription of antibiotics and worse, the overuse of antibiotics in livestock are pushing us closer and closer to a point where we can't treat infections and multiple pandemics could decimate human populations worldwide.

But there is a solution we're (mostly) overlooking. Viruses! For every strain of bacteria there is a virus that eats it. Bacteriophage viruses were widely used to treat infections in the USSR and in western medicine before antibiotics gained popularity in the West. Diagnosis must be much more thorough to determine the proper strain of bacteriophage virus to use but a large advantage is that it only takes one dose of the right virus cells to treat any infection. The bacteriophages will reproduce and hunt down all of the bacteria in a body until their gone, then the viruses will die. The main reason we're not widely using bacteriophage treatment is sad and disgusting. Simply put, the pharmaceutical companies can't make $Billions as they are prohibited from patenting lifeforms. For every bacteria there is a bacteriophage and their easily found in stream water then cultured in a lab. But since the pharmaceutical companies can't patent them, they can't control the market and keep competitors from using the same viruses.






(One of several)

People trying to sell you stuff as you walk through a shopping centre who say 'How are we today?'
How are 'we'? I can tell you how I am, but I've never seen you before in my life, and now you want me to tell you how you are too?
Yesterday the answer to 'how am I?' would have been 'in a foul mood having been almost knocked off my bike twice in Southampton, once by a lorry swerving into the cycle lane and once by a 4x4 BMW driver who was accelerating while driving on the wrong side of a narrow road, combined with having a minor ankle injury which is nevertheless taking a frustrating amount of time to heal and annoyed at being asked how are 'we' by someone I don't know'. But how can I answer for the person asking 'how are we?' I don't have enough information at this time – all I know about you is that you're average height, build, age, with brown, average length hair, a fake smile and the apparent desire to engage me in conversation with an end to persuading me to buy a conservatory. That's not much to go on.
For all I know you could be happy your partner proposed last night, putting a brave face on the fact your mother has lung cancer, both proud and slightly resentful that your sister has been named the top neurosurgeon in the country – the possibilities are endless and they're not mutually exclusive. Out of infinite possibilities, permutations and combinations you want me to guess how you are – but why? What is the point? It isn't as if there's a magical combination - such as if you are allergic to strawberries, have a tingling sensation in all the nerves down your left side and are jealous that your uncle's milkman has posted a photo of their cute cat on Facebook while the only pet you're allowed in your rental accommodation is a goldfish – that will persuade me to actually buy a conservatory. I live in a 1st floor flat. (2nd floor in US where the ground is counted at 1 not 0).

<BB<

That's out, that's for sure...
Well done.

Wish I were there, BB, I'd be plying you with barely crispy fried chicken and gelatin deserts for your ankle. (Both will really facilitate healing.)

"Considering some of the mind-bendingly awesome stuff humans have invented and can do (including the well-worn phrase begining "we can send a man to the moon but we still can't..."), I find it outragiously unfathomable that there's still no universal and dependable cure for the common cold."


The collection of symptoms that people call the "common cold" can actually be caused by any one of dozens or hundreds of strains of bacteria OR viruses, not just one.

The bacterial versions can be easily treated with antibiotics (for now), but as Baron Grim points out: overuse of antibiotics for non-life-threatening conditions is causing much bigger problems. So, frankly, if you're not on death's door then just tough it out and let your immune system deal with it. You'll be doing us all a favor.

Viral strains of "colds" (and of course the flu) can't practically be treated after a host has been infected, they require vaccines rather than cures. And, as Baron Grim points out, these particular viruses are constantly evolving. Quickly. So quickly that we don't have the time or resources to develop new vaccines for all of them every year.

If I'm not mistaken, the World Health Organization makes its best guess about which one is going to be the most prominent each year and develops a vaccine for that. Naturally, this approach has certain shortcomings: they will obviously guess wrong from time to time and people will still be infected by the less-common strains. At present this can't be helped.


This is an FAQ if you want to learn more:

http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/top-20-questions-about-vaccination



A petty hate of mine is people who so fundamentally misunderstand vaccines and viruses that they refuse to use them. Hence I just LOVE this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfdZTZQvuCo

P&T's BS was a good show. But that episode was by far there best and most important.


(Their one on second hand smoke one was their worst. They later admitted (half-heartedly) they got suckered by misleading studies.)

PH

That as I get older, I seem to make more grammatical and spelling mistakes.

The one on free speech was pretty good too.

Let's see here....



Ah.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2h6v01FlU4

On a totally unrelated note:

On one hand, people continually bitch about America's public education system (and not unfairly). Yet on the other hand, (without trying to aggrandize myself) people also continually say that I'm, like, smart and well-read and stuff.

But I'M a product of America's public education system. So aren't they just undermining their own argument?

Not necessarily. I believe that our education system is deteriorating rapidly in recent decades so you likely had a better education than younger folks. The increasing focus on standardized testing at the expense of critical thinking skills is definitely a detriment. Also, the (largely republican) push to cut taxes (mostly for the rich) leads to smaller and smaller budgets for education. Added to that is policies that take money from public schools and give it to private and parochial schools (vouchers). Texas in particular divert inordinate amounts of school funds for athletics with $70,000,000+ football stadia.

But even in this environment, some driven students still manage to beat the odds and learn.

I totally agree with the comments on the overuse of antibiotics. I certainly wouldn't want to take them unless it was absolutely necessary. I do try to "tough it out", even though my immune system is "compromised" and partly suppressed by medication. I haven't been to my GP to confirm that my breathing problems and cough are just asthma and not something more serious, largely because my cold may have cleared up by the time I get to see a doctor. But that's an entirely different Petty Hate.

Thanks X; I was mostly aware of most of that, specifically that cold virus's constantly evolve. My post was partially , but the other part is still surprised that despite all the difficulties you outline, we still haven't beaten common virus's, with- oh I don't know, some sort of smart-medicine which is dynamic and changes to match the receptors on the virus it encounters. Can such a technology really be so much more complex than building reusable rockets or particle accelerators?

Such technology is microscopic nanites in the bloodstream, so.... Yes.


"Also, the (largely republican) push to cut taxes (mostly for the rich) leads to smaller and smaller budgets for education."

Yet larger and larger budgets for the military, somehow....

Hey, if there actually were a bunch of super-cool nanites that could do super-cool things, would you actually get them or would you be too worried about the potential dangers of someone, say.... assimilating you?