Clay Harris

The Boy Who Cried “Wolf” is one of the oldest tales in Western culture, dating back at least to Aesop.

The shepherd’s repeated hoax cries so inured his fellows that when, in due course, a wolf actually came, his call for help was ignored. His false warnings had built up their resistance.

There is a parallel in the response to swine flu. Tamiflu ameliorates the effects of flu; in the absence of any other remedy – and prompted by the political need to be seen to do “something” - it has been made rather freely available by the NHS.  Effectively, there has been Tamiflu on demand.

Moreover, science writers in respected newspapers have said, basically: “Take Tamiflu if you feel bad, it can’t hurt.”

Anyone with the slightest grasp of evolutionary biology knows this couldn’t be so. The over-prescription and mis-prescription of antibiotics, fuelled by insistent patients bullying their GPs, has led to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The only surprise about the appearance of strains of the influenza virus that produced symptoms resistant to the ameliorative effects of Tamiflu was how little time it took.

Illnesses resistant to antibiotics and antivirals potentially put in danger even those who have done the right thing by avoiding the unnecessary use of such drugs. The “wolf” can come even for those who have been scrupulously careful and altruistic.

 Similar danger lurks in the language of political discourse. Hyperbole, and the promiscuous use of epithets, undercut the power and meaning of words, to our potential cost.

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Dr Kadiyali M Srivatsa said:

... Doctors with grasp of evolutionary biology may know issuing antibiotic is neither in the interest of patient nor in the interest of medical profession. Kassen lab (Canada) has found what makes a “super bug” stronger: tweaks to as few as two or three tiny bits of its DNA code in 90 minutes. They demonstrated these changes can happen very suddenly. University of Ottawa team showed that evolution isn’t always a minor adaptation over a million years. Drug resistance sticks around. OK, they drop in fitness once they become resistant, but then they quickly shoot back up to being high-fitness again. This is not good news to us all because we are now not in control but the bacteria, viruses and fungi are. The problem with our NHS is that it is now managed by non medically trained doctors and advised by non clinicians who are strongly defending the organisation. By allowing nurses to dish out antibiotics and Tami flu have done more damage to the profession than what we can see? The doctors who defend the profession and say quality of healthcare should not be based on what patient satisfaction but must be based on good medical practice. Prosecuting a doctor because the patient complaints he/she is not happy with the doctor not cater to their demand is unlikely to help us all in the long run.

December 07, 2009

バックリンク said:

... Illness is everywhere, anytime, and it's upgrade everyday, maybe faster than the development of medicine.

January 27, 2010

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