It is a fact
that we have changed a lot over the course of evolution. Our diet through the use of fire in food preparation
and the emergence of agriculture, exposure to pollutants, the use of microbial
compounds, the way we live, the way we relate to others, the way we heal and so
on. Even the way we are born has changed, with the introduction of the
caesarian section among other things.
This article
collects the information contained from the literature to conclude that the
diversity of the human microbiota has been declining, especially since 300
years ago, resulting in a loss of species, and a loss of gene
functions in microbial populations. The authors compare each individual human
to an island: when we are born, we are a deserted island. Since then, every
interaction with relatives, with the environment and other elements provides us
with inhabitants to our island –the microorganisms who live in our body-. This formed
microecosystem undergoes modifications reaching to a final community as an
adult, although it changes
through interactive selective agents over time. This is one of the keys of biodiversity.
As we know, richly diverse ecosystems are more efficient to solve
problems, so we can deduct that pauperization and perturbation of our microbiota may be related
with different diseases as it is being demonstrated. One of the most
illustrative examples are antibiotics, which alter microbial physiology and
gene expression. Our microbiota must interacts with our tissues to maintain
good health. So, if we extend its use more than necessary, it may cause
permanent and harmful changes in our metabolism.
By now, what we have for sure is that we don´t have effective therapies
for restoring our original microbiota, so we must think it twice before we
damage the “inhabitants of our island”.
I would like you to think about what this article makes me wonder:
Do we think about the consequences of our progress?
Will we be able to solve the problem that we have caused to solve
others? What can we do to palliate damages?
Which factor you believe that prompt us the most, comfort or need?
Are you optimistic or pessimistic about this topic?
Click here to check
the article:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4584332/María Belén.
Hello!!
ResponderEliminarFirst of all I think this is a great choice bacause nowadays change is in every single day of our lifes, so, it directly affects us.
Answering to your questions, I don't belive we think in the consequences of our progress, basically because it is something that happens day by day. In the past, as you have said before, the changes were a few ones in a long period of time and people could get used to it, but nowadays changes are done every minute. Maybe now that I'm writing this, in USA are discovering a new miraculous antibiotic. I don't think we realise how it affects us because we have born with it, without thinking what can be the prize of it.
I don't think we can change it by now, the extremely industrialiced countries with pollution, microbial compounds, our extreme hygene, people getting more and more medicalized... We may know by now that it is harmful, but I don't think we could change our whole system.
I think that it depends on the country, probably in India they don´t have the money enough to buy pesticides or polluting machines, or even drugs for their patients so maybe their microbiota is less exposed to harmful stuff. But as the world is ruled for and by rich people I think that our main prompt is comfort.
So as you can see I'm a little bit pessimistic about this topic.
Hi Andrea! I'm compleatly agree with you. As we can see, you have already answered all the questions, so I will focus in some diseases that I beliave they are produced for all these factors (pesticides, broad spectrum antibiotics, extreme hygenic measures, additive food preservatives..). For example, daily extreme cleaning of our skin can exterminate our natural epidermal microbiota that protects us from other malignant bacteria and produce some autoinmunitary diseases such as allergic reactions, psoriasis, epidermitis... Moreover, air polluting agents such as chemical components can increase the risk of asthma, chronic pneumonitis, sarcoidosis...and more respiratori diseases. Last but not less, I want to make some emphasis in food additives. As soon as I'm concerned, some of the cancers that we have nowadays, are rising up due to the food industrialization.
ResponderEliminarHello everybody!
ResponderEliminarI totally agree with your opinions about the severity of this issue. Nevertheless, I am quite optimistic about our future because people are increasingly concerned about it.
It’s true that sometimes we don’t think about the consequences of the measures we take or we just ignore them thinking that they will appear in the very distant future. However, I guess that we are improving in preventing, solving and palliating the effects derived from our development (as well as we are progressing in other areas). For example, lots of sanitary and phytosanitary measures have been applied in recent years: healthy living campaigns, air pollution controls, food quality controls, protocols to prevent antibiotic resistance based on a strong regulation of their prescription, etc…
I think that we just need to find a way to achieve sustainable development in all senses (health sector, environmental sector, etc) and concern people even more about the importance of it. The path is clear, we only need to follow it. ;)
Cheers!
Good evening!
ResponderEliminarIn my opinion, we all realize the consequences of our progress. However, due to we think problems will arise in the long run, we just look away and prioritize comfort or need (it depends on the situation and the person) instead of thinking wise.
We can currently find two extremes. People who take drugs and antibiotics for any minimal pain or infection and people reluctant to take drugs for fear of causing more problems than they can solve.
Either way, changes, studies, experimentations and new discoveries are all the rage. I consider it is just a matter of time researchers bring out effective therapies for restoring microbiota. Meanwhile, we can only try not to cross the fine line between the curative and the harmful.
Raquel.
Hello María! Very interesting topic indeed!
ResponderEliminarI believe the most impactful factor in the alteration of human microbiota is the use of antibiotics. Undeniably, antibiotics drew a line between before and after in Medicine, allowing the curation of infeccious diseases that were both deadly and caused pandemies. On the other hand, they cause the reduction of microbiota, which is associated with an increasing number of allergic reactions, chronic inflammatory conditions, and autoimmune diseases, and may also be associated with higher risk of anxiety and depression. In this fashion, what matters is to find the balance between benefits and risks using antibiotics.
We, as future doctors, must be aware of this phenomenon and be cautious when prescribing this type of medication, until scientists discover ways of restoring microbiota.
Hello Tiago! I could not agree with you more!
EliminarWe live in a world where we believe doctors are godlike creatures that have the ability to cure almost everything and anything. When we enter the doctor’s office, we are waiting for some kind of panacea; in other words, we are hoping that the doctor can provide a hypothetical cure for all diseases and illnesses.
What we as patients have to bear in mind is that neither all illnesses can be cured nor all illnesses require a treatment. As doctors, we need to make sure that patients understand that for a common cold, for example, there is no need for antibiotics. We cannot keep moving the goalposts and we need to maintain a high level of assertiveness when talking to patients, so that they truly understand when antibiotics are mandatory and when they are not.
When you go to the doctor and he does not prescribe a course of antibiotics, sometimes you complain about it, not realizing that probably this was the best therapeutic plan given your condition. That comes from the fact that people are generally uneducated about the consequences of taking antibiotics when there is no need, coupled with a bad doctor-patient relationship, which is a keystone of care.
Notwithstanding, there is a procedure that is used to replace your microbiota if, for instance, you are healing Clostridium difficile infections or have other digestive or auto-immune diseases, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis. It is called a Fecal Microbiota Transplant and provided you have a Clostridium difficile infection, the success rate of the treatment is about 90% with virtually no side effects. Nowadays more and more physicians are using this method to restore your microbiota, but in order to do so you need to have a donor to assist you, which does not always happen.
With this in mind, and knowing that fecal transplant is a low-cost, low-risk and a highly effective treatment, I would say we are on the right track when it comes to finding solutions to this problem.
Hello again!
ResponderEliminarThis is an important theme, and as said Tiago, for us as future doctors even more. There are a lot of studys that indicate that our country has extramedicalizated patients, including the use of antibiotics, as maybe all of the developed countryes. And, in recent years, the cases of multi resistant bacterial infections have been growing, as some autoimmune diseases; at the same time that our microbiota are dying. Are all of these facts associated? I think so.
In the other hand, we can't forget that antibiotics, hygiene and other sanitary procedures maybe could be the reason for we are here now: How many of us haven't taken antibiotic?
I am not saying that we have to give antibiotics everyone, we have to discriminate, and in this way, being careful and with more research, the future could be better in this respect.
Carlos Veiga
Good evening!
ResponderEliminarThe article and all your opinions are really interesting, it's a good choice because it's a problem we see almost every day. I think the matter is more serious we could think at first, even friends or family take antibiotic when it isn't required.
In my opinion, it's impossible to resolve this soon, we will need years to make aware people about the risk of taking too many antibiotics if you don't need it. Our purpose like future doctors is to explain our patients about these dangers and their consequences. As my classmates said, it's sure that there are method to recover your microbiota, but the cheaper and easier method is to prevent the loss of that microbiota.
Hello everyone!
ResponderEliminarThank you for your comments and your deliberation. I just hope that this article made you think about this current problem and I hope it to be useful in our professional life as doctors too. You all have focused on the extensive use of antibiotics, as normal given the nature of our studies and interests. Having said that, I would like to recapitulate the main points of your opinions which I think that collect the summary conclusions.
All we noticed the prevalent overuse of antibiotics, which is one of the causes that have altered our microbiota. This way, we coincide that this use must be regulated anyhow by doctors and, on the other hand, patients should know the consequences of not respecting the medical prescription, agreeing of course about the fact that antibiotics must be taken as long as it´s required.
My classmates and I, know too that this loss of microbiota usually brings with it many others diseases. Some examples are allergic reactions, chronic inflammatory conditions and autoimmune diseases, etc, so it´s not just one problem.
Moreover, most of us believe that a solution will be discovered to recover our lost microbiota. In fact, there are some measures such as Fecal Microbiota Transplant, as Marta told, that can help us somehow.
However, we must point out that the best option is always to prevent, at less for the moment.