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"Missing microbes": story on microbiome on NPR's Fresh Air

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Posted 4/14/2014 7:53 PM (GMT 0)
www.npr.org/2014/04/14/302899093/modern-medicine-may-not-be-doing-your-microbiome-any-favors?ft=3&f=2,3,5,7,10,13,35,39,46

Post Edited (Probiotic) : 4/14/2014 1:56:29 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 4/14/2014 7:59 PM (GMT 0)
I was listening to this in my car earlier, I didn't catch it all but will try and hear it tonight. I caught the part about c-section kids and felt pretty miserable since both my boys were born via c-section. Of course I labored with both of them for days so I hope they had some exposure to my micro biome.
Posted 4/14/2014 8:58 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for sharing this. I haven't seen this particular segment, but I've taken a liking to Martin Blaser and his work, so I kind of knew he would be involved in it. Kudos to NPR for taking the progressive stance and questioning the current paradigm.

I've been looking into some of Blaser's others segments as of late and his research continues to validate the hygiene hypothesis for autoimmunity, allergies and many medical problems. My personal experience with antibiotics left me with such distaste towards the medical profession that it would be hard to put into words. Indeed, modern medicine isn't doing us any favors.

He mentioned in another interview that as many as 8 out 10 people are wrongly prescribed antibiotic courses (I fit this category). The long term ramifications of these courses are only beginning to show up in the general population. It's troubling knowing that bacterial colonies we've had since birth are permanently gone and cannot be repopulated through other means. The associate director of CDC basically said last year that we've reached the end of antibiotics because of all the abuse going on. They were intended for life saving measures and people are no longer responding to them. Superbugs are a very real threat now.
Posted 4/14/2014 9:39 PM (GMT 0)
companies and consumers ruined antibiotics much more than doctors. oh, and maybe lawyers too.

I don't so much blame doctors. Maybe drug reps, but mostly the public. Patients demanded antibiotics, and would switch doctors to get them. It took years for doctors to start saying "no" unless there was infection.

Also people flocked to buy anticipation dish soap, house cleaners, hand sanitizers ... etc.

I think antibiotics triggered my UC, but I KNOW they saved my life as I lay semi-conscious in the ICU with sepsis.
Posted 4/14/2014 11:01 PM (GMT 0)
DBwithUC, I strongly agree with you. It amazed me how many people insist, whine and demand antibiotics because they think they know better.
Funny, I had a knee replacement and only had 3 or 4 doses of ABX and no oral ABX. Times are thankfully changing.
Posted 4/14/2014 11:29 PM (GMT 0)

DBwithUC said...
companies and consumers ruined antibiotics much more than doctors. oh, and maybe lawyers too.

I don't so much blame doctors. Maybe drug reps, but mostly the public. Patients demanded antibiotics, and would switch doctors to get them. It took years for doctors to start saying "no" unless there was infection.

Also people flocked to buy anticipation dish soap, house cleaners, hand sanitizers ... etc.

I think antibiotics triggered my UC, but I KNOW they saved my life as I lay semi-conscious in the ICU with sepsis.

I'm as guilty as anyone of buying into the antimicrobial craze, but I think the problem is with serious misinformation (often at the cost of our health). I agree in that the wrong info is often perpetuated by the pharmaceutical companies and drug reps by extension. Still, I believe a majority of the onus is on doctors for not being true scientists and not coming to their own conclusions; it is detailed pretty well in the medical literature and Cochrane reviews, but they don't bother to look at all and never change their ways. I switched to good ol' hand soap after going through the data on antimicrobial soaps.

Blaser on antimicrobial products. A scientific panel found them to be useless, if not detrimental to our health.

Blaser on pharmaceutical companies creating more issues (and more profit) with broad spectrum antibiotics.
Posted 4/15/2014 1:18 AM (GMT 0)
Interesting.
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