A novel way to stop the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria
economist.com
economist.com
Is Russian that widespread in Georgia? That sentence strikes me as odd, it would be like going to the US and saying "it's easy to get around even if you don't speak any Spanish".
Given geo-politics I imagine this is probably starting to change, and that more and more Georgians are probably learning English. But that's just a hunch.
If you have some time, I'd recommend venturing outside of the capital (Tbilisi). The scenery you see in different parts of the country is breathtaking.
A more knowledgeable stackexchange user says:
If you know Russian, use it. Despite the political situation, Georgians are smart and open minded. They may not like the Russian government but they love Russian people and they love the Russian language.
I'm pretty convinced after seven months in Georgia that people learn Russian there for just the same reason foreigners everywhere learn English: it's cool and it's useful.
English is spoken, but I wouldn't say "widely". It's spoken by people aged in their 20s and younger, moreso if they're in a big city and moreso depending on their level of education.
Source: https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/10640/what-langua... (the full answer is worth the short read)
---
Also, another point of interest for US citizens is that Georgia gives you a 1 year visa-free stay. Could be a great option if you're traveling Europe and need to be out of the Schengen zone when your 90 days are expired.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-tra...
https://www.ted.com/talks/alexander_belcredi_how_a_long_forg...
First they determined which phages to use and then they injected them into the wounds while also giving the patient a cocktail to drink multiple times of the day that also contained these phages.
At least for the patients shown this was helpful.
In this documentation they also mentioned that there are two different types of phages and only one is usable. They also mentioned that food companies already try to use them to disinfect food by spraying phages on the food.
[0] https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https... (not sure if that can even be viewed outside of germany, it's also not only about phages but multiple alternatives to antibiotics, but it seem similar -> people travel to georgia for treatment; there are two patients, one from germany and one from the netherlands)
Any insights on how that might work, beyond attacking every option but only succeeding in one? Viruses are presumably too simple to make a strategic choice.
“To enter a host cell, bacteriophages attach to specific receptors on the surface of bacteria, including lipopolysaccharides, teichoic acids, proteins, or even flagella. This specificity means a bacteriophage can infect only certain bacteria bearing receptors to which they can bind, which in turn determines the phage's host range. Host growth conditions also influence the ability of the phage to attach and invade them.” from Wikipedia
Wonder how the local news reported it?
I could offer something just as useless: "don't eat plants".
Meat and plants can both be infected with bacteria. And both require freezing and refrigeration to avoid spoiling.
Doctors constantly prescribing antibiotics for literally anything (even viruses, which would require an antiviral not an antibiotic), and then patients not taking all of their pills (giving you a double whammy of dumb) is just as bad, or even worse, than meat.
Also, the beef industry in the US has stopped the practice of subtherapeutic antibiotics used for growth. Antibiotics can only be given to beef strictly by on-label usage, thus closing one of the possible routes.
Pro-vegan propaganda does not belong on HN.
That's wonderful news, if I understood it correctly. Did you mean that they completely stopped giving antibiotics to cattle unless and until said cattle is sick? Is that a regulation? Does it apply to chicken as well? Any links?
I'm not sure if it applies to chicken, however Perdue has been trying to save its damaged brand by removing antibiotics also used for humans entirely (about a decade ago), and semi-recently announced that only half of their chicken used any antibiotics at all and none used off-label; they also have antibiotic free sub-brands.
This is notable because Perdue is the third largest chicken product company, after Tyson (Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Sara Lee, Ballpark, Wright's), and JBS (Pilgrim's, Swift, Plumrose), although both Tyson and JBS produce twice (each) as much chicken as Perdue does (giving Perdue 1/5th of the market).
Anyway, what's interesting to me is that doctors are in an impossible position. They want to make their patients happy, not just healthy. And patients equate antibiotics with getting better, thus doctors prescribe antibiotics.
Caffeine, like other xanthines, also acts as a phosphodiesterase inhibitor.[141] As a competitive nonselective phosphodiesterase inhibitor,[142] caffeine raises intracellular cAMP, activates protein kinase A, inhibits TNF-alpha[143][144] and leukotriene[145] synthesis, and reduces inflammation and innate immunity.[145] Caffeine also affects the cholinergic system where it inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase.
> is just as bad, or even worse, than meat.
"By 2011, a total of 13.6 million kg (30 million lb) of antimicrobials were sold for use in food-producing animals in the United States,[53] which represented 80% of all antibiotics sold or distributed in the United States"
> Antibiotics can only be given to beef strictly by on-label usage, thus closing one of the possible routes.
"The FDA has asked drug companies to voluntarily edit its labels to exclude growth promotion as an indication for antibiotic usage."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic_use_in_livestock
Even if the US comes down hard if there is are countries that still allows it, the risk remains. Resistance doesn't care about borders.
> Pro-vegan propaganda does not belong on HN.
Sure. But it seems an important issue and the facts seem to indicate it's not solved yet.
A lot of damage was already done.
The bacterial one. Virus infections are (almost?) never treated with antibiotics.
So should we shut down all hospitals and never visit the doctor again?
[0] https://www.niaid.nih.gov/research/antimicrobial-resistance-...
The agriculture industry is a major reason why pesticides, herbicides, destructive monocrops cultures and such, are done. They are responsible for the destruction of the Amazon by planting soyabean monocultures, because of the rich soil.
Both are as horrible as each other.
Both can be done quite sustainably. Problem is that there's not money in doing so, because greed runs the show.
A) I buy my meat at the farmer's market.
B) I buy tempeh instead of meat.