“Urine bugs may be a sign of aggressive prostate cancer”, that was the headline on the BBC news and so I had to take a look. The BBC reports that “scientists have identified urine bacteria which are linked to aggressive prostate cancer” and that “clearing the infection might prevent bad tumours”; the researchers claim they have demonstrated “an association between the presence of bacteria in urine sediments and higher D’Amico risk prostate cancer patients” and that “specific anaerobic bacteria genera have prognostic potential”
How do you predict that an antibiotic is going to be able to treat an infection caused by a particular bacterium? Easy… you do the antibiotic sensitivities and if it is susceptible you treat. Right?
Well, sometimes it isn’t as simple as that. Sometimes you need more than just a standard laboratory investigation… you need to take your antibiotic testing to another level… do you mean levitation?! I can just imagine the conversation:
“Goldberger, I need you to go down South and investigate an outbreak” demanded the Surgeon General. “Yes Sir!”, replied Dr Joseph Goldberger, “Errr, what outbreak am I investigating Sir?” “The leprosy-like skin infection outbreak that no one has ever been able to discover a cause for of course, it’s affecting millions of people down there.” “Yes Sir!” replied Dr Goldberger again, whilst probably thinking with a sinking heart “OMG, this sounds like a nightmare…” But when you work for an organisation such as the US Public Health Service in 1915 and your boss tells you to do something you pack your bags and off you go. So he did… |
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David Garner Please DO NOT advertise products and conferences on our website or blog
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