True to our promise, we’ve got two blogs today. Because this one, thrown up thanks to the work of our assiduous researchers, returns Learning, Science and Society to where it began; an antibiotics blog.
First, the good news: It’s possible that antibiotics could reduce the crippling harm caused by endomentriosis. [1] According to Japanese researchers, a nasty little organism called Fusobacterium may be the guilty party. And a course of common antibiotics like metronidazole may be the answer. Read our link to Thea Jourdan of the Mail. And after you’ve finished: what happens to all those women with endometriosis when the antibiotics run out?
Second, the not so good news According to Emily Stearn, also of the Mail, antibiotic prescriptions may cause mood changes so profound that they could even lead to suicidal thoughts. Apparently a certain Dr Robert Stephenson, a cardiologist with no previous history of mental disorders took a course of ciprofloxacin and then, unfortunately, committed suicide. Our sympathies to those whom he left behind. Now, we are always loathe to infer general conclusions from one data point, however moving. On the other hand, we never imagined such an outcome was even possible. And there does seem to be well-attested evidence that, yes, antibiotics can have effects on the nervous system in some cases [3] So from now on, we’ll watch this space, as they say.
And finally-The Daily Mail. Certain readers, high on the scale of both erudition and emotional enlightenment, have asked us: why do consult articles from that (expletive deleted) publication? To which we reply: we are only following our great Whig mentor, Bertrand Russell. Who strongly counselled obtaining your data from as many sources as possible, and reading even from journals in the enemy camp, You never know who is going to save your life. A bit like antibiotics, really.
[1]https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12559011/Eye-antibiotics-ease-pain-endometriosis.html
[3] https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/psychiatric-adverse-effects-antibiotics
#endometriosis #nervous system #antibiotics #medicine
Learning, Science and Society 