Thursday, 11 November 2010

Biomedicalecology

Just out trawling for interesting blogs etc and had to comment on a gut bacteria discussion. With the Organic folk at the Soil Association publishing on the subject these days there is maybe a revival of interest in these matters. As always it still seems rather "fringe" though. Until we can realise that the antibiotic is a double edged sword and leaves one's symbio-ants as dead as any dangerous colonisers we will continue to have events of chronic infection and antibiotics will continue to be eclipsed as useful medicines.
So Biomedicalecology can describe the full nature of these symbiotic relationships. It pains me to hear the crusades against "Ecoli 0157:H7" or whatever they term it. Escherichia coli is found normally as a major constituent of our gut flora. Biomedicalecology should look at how the normal relationship breaks down and what subtle changes we could make to restore balance. More crucially, though, an understanding of where the relationship fails can help avoiding the problem in the future. This understanding could slash medical costs and improve human fitness profoundly.
Trouble is there's a vast set of industries based on illness, not health, and they rather like the status quo.

That'll do for now.
I'm still fundraising for the Centre. I'm maybe going to change the name to Greencentre but it'll always be Second Foundation, too. I owe that to Isaac!

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