Sea Sponge Extract Conquers Resistant Bacteria

Science News has an article on research into a compound found in a particular kind of sea sponge that seems to have the ability to restore antibiotics' effectiveness against resistant bacteria. The hope is that, since the compound is not itself deadly or even harmful to bacteria, it may skew the antibiotic-bacteria arms race in our favor. "Chemical analyses of the sponge's chemical defense factory pointed to a compound called algeferin. Biofilms, communities of bacteria notoriously resistant to antibiotics, dissolved when treated with fragments of the algeferin molecule. And new biofilms did not form. So far, the algeferin offshoot has, in the lab, successfully treated bacteria that cause whooping cough, ear infections, septicemia and food poisoning. The compound also works on... [MRSA] infections, which wreak havoc in hospitals. 'We have yet to find one that doesn't work,' says [one of the researchers]."

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No Respect for Your Neighbors

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Animal use is bad but human suffering is worse and the main villain is "Intellectual Property" Law. An unstated argument here is that people distributing medicine and those who don't take their full course are somehow at fault. These arguments shift blame from people who profit from misery and blame the victims and those who would help.

Does it really make moral sense that farm animals are over treated and people end up with half treatments? Do you think that people really want to have less than proper medicine? The system is really screwed up and one of the main barriers are IP treaties that threaten countries that would make their own life saving drugs. Sure, you can point to WIPO exceptions for just this sort of problem, but reality is what you describe - livestock get better medicine than most people.