"To totally eradicate Malaria, we need to do it vigorously and in a short period of time to avoid mutation."
-Bill Gates
The
sickle cell disease is a non-pathogen induced disease. An abnormal type of hemoglobin creates mutated cells, clogging up small blood vessels. Consequently, various parts of the body may not receive enough oxygen in order to function properly. Though there is no universal cure for this disease, a drug known as hydroxyurea may be used to suppress cell count in the body. Researchers at MIT and Boston University now find that the drug also has a different use with an amazing potential. Hydroxyurea may cause bacteria to cause suicide, due to a radical chain event of hydroxyl production. This process is too complicated for my puny brain to soak up so I think I'll just skip it.
Amazingly, no bacteria has evolved to be immune to this drug, proving to be another firewall for mankind to develop against the hordes of bacteria.
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And on a more pessimistic notion, we must ask ourselves; is this the right thing to do: to innovate ways for blockade the dark micro-warriors. There will be a time someday when we have bred a super-pathogen, a monster that is immune to any type of drug, and that's when it's 'I am Legend' remake ...
Any comments on Hydroxyurea, and the drugged future of mankind?
2 comments:
If this drug, which certainly sounds promising, and satisfying (the satisfaction of knowing that I'm using a brand-new drug developed my leading scientists that causes bacteria not just to die but to commit suicide makes me feel better already), ever goes commercial, my main concern would be its original use. I really don't want a miracle drug to be suppressing the number of red or white blood cells in my body.
But on a more general note, it seems inevitable to me that the most powerful drugs will also be the ones most likely to become obsolete due to mutations. For the most powerful drugs seem to be the ones that are able to target very specific attributes of the bacteria, allowing it to be efficient and safe. But this will create an enormous advantage for bacteria without that attribute, resulting in rapid mutation.
But when people decide which drug to buy, they don't care which drug is better for society in the long run. If you give any sensible person a choice between a potent drug that will spawn mutations and a weak drug that will not, he will certainly choose the more effective drug. So it seems inevitable, even impossible, that mutations be quashed completely.
But this drug may offer a solution if it targets all bacteria. For no reasonable mutation can cause a bacteria to morph into something else. Yet another example of how a new perspective can solve a seemingly intractable problem.
And finally, about the "drugged future of mankind", I believe that from chemical enhancements (read: medicine), it is a short step, and a step mainly in technology, to medical nanobots, to robotic enhancements. As soon as the technology exists to realize these science-fictional ideas, we will see a blurring between life and machine, which will be further exacerbated by artificial intelligence. Eventually, we and our technology will be one and the same, inseparable parts of a greater whole.
And to me, a lowly unsophisticated twenty-first century primate, it's a pretty scary thought.
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