Post: #1

This is truly frightening when you grasp the implications. I've been hearing more and more about this issue of bacteria becoming resistant to our normal medications. I think it's only going to get worse as we pump animals full of anti-biotics and doctors(esp in the 3rd world) had out things like Cipro as if they were candy.

If this continues, we will be left defenseless against bacteria and return to the world we had before penicillin where people died of things now easily curable like pneumonia and syphillis.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/...74579.html

Post: #2

Not surprised. I've experienced it myself even though I don't get sick very often. Problem is, people (myself included, must admitt) take anti-biotics without carefully following its instructions, which just feeds to the cause.

Post: #3

We'll just have to miniaturize ourselves and shoot down those bacteria one at a time, cowboy style!



Actually, diseases that kill their own hosts tend to not survive, while diseases that co-exist with their hosts tend to survive to the future generations. That's why diseases tend to become more and more mild to their hosts over time: The milder versions tend to have stronger hosts, which allows them to spread more.

There are problems when formerly isolated populations with different pools of diseases meet --what's mild for one group typically isn't for the other. And the set (ecology?) of diseases that peacefully co-existed in each isolated population suddenly have to fight it out for survival as each tries to spread to the other population and achieve dominance.

That would be one of the largest problems for time travelers --the set of diseases modern immune systems are tuned to work against would be useless. Meanwhile common child diseases like measles, mumps, chicken pox, and the flu, once carried into the past, would probably kill most of the historical people you were hoping to meet.

Post: #4

Quote:Actually, diseases that kill their own hosts tend to not survive, while diseases that co-exist with their hosts tend to survive to the future generations.

True but a lot of hosts die in the beginning until that equilibrium is reached.

Post: #5

The problem is compounded by the fact that antibiotics aren't lucrative moneymakers for the pharmaceutical companies. Not much money to be made, no incentive to invest the millions of dollars required to come up with new drugs.

People sure will eat up pills for shit like "Restless Legs Syndrome," though.

Frightening nonetheless.