
'Man on the Moon' moment – the year's big breakthroughs in medicine - sdumi
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-50813226
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est31
> But doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital attempted an untested "phage
> therapy", which uses viruses to infect and kill bacteria. Phage-therapy
> never became mainstream medicine and the field was eclipsed by the discovery
> of antibiotics, which are much easier to use.

Yes, phage therapy quickly disappeared after antibiotics were discovered. At
the time, antibiotics were more convenient as they usually help against a wide
range of bacteria while with phages you need to specifically test which phage
works best for the strand you want to fight. It takes days with phages vs
minutes with antibiotics.

The co-discoverer of phages went to georgia and helped establish phage
research at a medical institue [1]. The institute survived through the
horrible times of stalin and later it became of strategic importance as the
west didn't share antibiotics with the soviet union. Due to the strategic
importance, samples had to be sent to the institute from all over the soviet
union and now the institute has one of the largest phage collections in the
world. It has continued giving phage therapies to patients for decades, up
until this day. Definitely not mainstream but don't call it untested!

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Eliava_Institute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Eliava_Institute)

~~~
varjag
> The institute survived through the horrible times of stalin and later it
> became of strategic importance as the west didn't share antibiotics with the
> soviet union.

Penicillin and Streptocide were shipped to USSR under Lend-Lease in industrial
quantities and saved many hundreds of thousands lives.

~~~
Retric
That’s true, but Lend-Lease ended well before Stalin’s death.

~~~
otabdeveloper2
You're nuts if you think the USSR didn't have penicillin and other
antibiotics.

~~~
Retric
Penicillin and plenty of others sure, but it’s a huge list and resistance has
long been fought via the use of novel antibiotics:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_antibiotics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_antibiotics)

USSR’s issues where generally more economic than technological. However, they
did lag behind the curve in introducing new antibiotics.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Soviet_Union#/m...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Soviet_Union#/media/File:Soviet_Union_USSR_GDP_per_capita.png)

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xiphias2
In my opinion the most important medical advance that happened was reversing
methylation based age indicator for the first time in a human. It's a bit sad
to not see something so important on this list.

~~~
rococode
For anyone curious, I believe this is the relevant paper:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6826138/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6826138/)

And a blog post about it: [https://www.activemotif.com/blog-reversing-
epigenetic-age](https://www.activemotif.com/blog-reversing-epigenetic-age)

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dekhn
Just once I'd love to see an article that instead of breathlessly promoting
ultra-expensive, risky, and unlikely to scale technologies, emphasizes how
inexpensive and straightforward processes and procedures are far more
effective for global health increase with reduced costs. While some of the
concepts in this article may go on to be successful, they will mostly just
increase the total cost of care.

~~~
DenisM
Would you really want to read it? It’s going to be boring...

\- wash you hands often and don’t touch your face unless you just did

\- stay out of midday sun, over 45 degree elevation

\- no alcohol, simple carbs, or other addictive substances

\- no prolonged seating; walk some distance a few times a day.

\- modest stretch and exercise (like hipster yoga)

\- 8 hours of sleep; observe sleep hygiene.

\- prioritize reducing stress over “making a difference” and such

\- prioritize fulfilling social interaction

\- prefer a job that doesn’t torture you but gives a modest sense of
accomplishment

\- if you are a doctor follow checklists

\- if you’re not a doctor follow checklists anyway

EDIT:

\- plan vacations as far in advance as you can and generally sprinkle in your
life something unconditional to look forward to

\- try dog or cat sitting for your friends; I’ve found that a good cat is a
permanent +4 boost to mood every day for $100 per month

~~~
bananabreakfast
wtf is hipster yoga? Leave out the cynicism please

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elric
It's a shame that there's no mention of the migraine related breakthroughs.
Two new types of drugs that target CGRP (Calcitonin gene-related peptide) were
approved and brought to market. One type is sold as injections and is used to
prevent migraines, the other type is a tablet that's used to stop an acute
migraine.

About a billion (!) people are affected by migraines, so any new treatment has
the potential to be very beneficial.

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ggm
Mentions phage therapy as a one liner. Kept alive on life support
(metaphorically) by Soviet scientists across the life of the antibiotics era
which increasingly feels like it too is on life support.

~~~
perl4ever
I heard about that many years ago, but isn't it something that fundamentally
has to be customized rather than mass produced? Of course, there are other
therapies these days that are as well.

~~~
TomMarius
Customized to the bacteria it should kill, not the patient.

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rosybox
I know this is supposed to be good news and we should feel good about this,
but as a generally healthy person all my life reading this I'm just shocked by
the horrible diseases and illnesses that happen to good people just trying to
live their lives. Through no fault of their own people end up with pain or
disease and their quality of life, their hopes, their dreams, their daily life
is affected. There's not a lot I can do to help any one dealing with pain and
illness, but I want the best things for those of you who are. It's not your
fault, and it doesn't matter if it is, nobody deserves a life of pain and
suffering and other bullshit. We need to do the best we can for those
affected, including making sure everyone has access to quality medical care.

~~~
solids
When you think about it for a while is not only illness that can happen,
actually everything could truncate your life in a second. So try to enjoy
every second you have, I think it’s the best advice.

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mister_hn
The biggest breakthrough for me would also be free medicines and Universal
healthcare for everyone.

~~~
mikeyouse
It's much less sexy than some of these technologies but universal access to
Canadian-quality & cost healthcare worldwide (including in the US) would save
so many more lives than some esoteric phage treatment that will surely cost
$1M/patient.

