Oral sex producing unstoppable bacteria | Hacker News Reader

Oral sex producing unstoppable bacteria

bbc.co.uk

31 pointspmoriarty20 comments

Title seems unclear, should probably read "antibiotics use causing antibiotic resistant bacteria". Guess that wouldn't get BBC as many clicks though, so I get why they chose that title.

TL;DR : gonorrhea develops antibiotic resistance. People using condoms less because the fear of HIV/AIDS has declined.

> People using condoms less because the fear of HIV/AIDS has declined.

I would really like to see actual data on this statement. HIV is unbelievably difficult to transmit via oral sex, and condom use for oral sex was always very rare, even among high-risk groups during the height of the HIV epidemic.

I agree I'd like to see the data as well, the statement seemed surprising to me in the article.

Reality minus the garbage clicky headline: Antibiotic overuse and resistance is causing unstoppable bacteria.

Why there isn't a global effort to develop new antibiotics is somewhat shocking to me. It is already a major public health problem and will get worse if new antibiotics are not developed. Governments need to incentivize new antibiotic develop heavily, or invest in it heavily themselves.

"Governments need to incentivize new antibiotic develop heavily"... Governments overloaded by debts must invest billions just to allow people to enjoy their "rights" to free sex... U are deluded, wake up 'cause it's over: USE CONDOM!

She said: "When you use antibiotics to treat infections like a normal sore throat, this mixes with the Neisseria species in your throat and this results in resistance."

Tragedy of the commons.

Also who actually gets antibiotics for a sore throat? Apart from strep and other more serious infections I've never heard of such a thing.

It's not unheard of for doctors to prescribe antibiotics "in case it is strep" before the test comes back.

I get strep regularly (2-3 times per year). I've never once waited more than a few minutes for the swab test done in-office to confirm it.

> who actually gets antibiotics for a sore throat?

My friends whose parents are doctors would often give them antibiotics for the smallest things.

Physicians are often late to the public-health party (as evidenced by the opioid crisis and over-prescription of antibiotics).

There's a ton of overlap with the people that stop taking antibiotics once they feel better rather than finishing the course (and thus have them sitting around, and decide to take them the next time anything at all is wrong). In some cases doctors will also relent and just write a "get out of my face" prescription to shut a hypochondriac up, but that's more rare these days because most realize how bad an idea that is (in the past, it was considered fairly harmless to prescribe a course of antibiotics even if someone didn't need it, but now we mostly know better).

When people go to the doctor for a sore throat, they want "take these pills and it will get better". They don't want to hear "let your immune system deal with it", because that makes them wonder why they even bothered going to the doctor.

Hence doctors prescribing antibiotics - it's something to take.

Then give them a placebo.

It's ridiculous and infuriating that I had to fight for a full course of doxycycline to treat a proven Lyme disease infection, while people get antibiotics for harmless transient infections just to make them feel like they're doing something.

Isn't it in the long-term best interests of health insurers to be on the front lines fighting antibiotic resistance?

Probably, but tragedy of the commons etc.

It should be well know that HIV is viral, gonorrhea & chlamydia are both bacterial diseases, so if hard times are coming defend yourself: USE CONDOM!

Startup idea: A convenient way to test a new couple for STDs. Possibly in conjunction with an app like Tinder.

There are numerous home std tests

https://mylabbox.com

It's $500: https://www.mylabbox.com/product/love-box-std-testing-for-co...

I wonder if it's possible to compete on price without sacrificing accuracy.

Well. That sucks.

Yes, but I think it's trying to say stop sucking.

Beat me to it.

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