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RE: Understanding Infections / Bacteria and Viruses

in StemSocial2 years ago

I think as far as diagnosis for viruses we really need to revamp our diagnostic methods. Like you mentioned that leukocyte to lymphocyte ratio can give you a hint (although variations exist), but I still think more robust confirmations may sometimes be necessary. I say this for two reasons - to control the unwanted use of antibiotics and avoid the rise of antibiotic resistance microbes and two to access the epistemology and if needed provide antiviral therapies for specific viral infections. As of now cheap confirmatory diagnostic solutions are limited. However, this is the problem demanding a solution.

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Yes, I totally agree. The big problem here is that when we talk about viruses we are referring to DNA or RNA fragments, so the more specific diagnostic methods, such as PCR for example, are usually more expensive, and the process to perform them is slower.
But the problem of self-medication continues to be a public health problem, because if we continue at this rate, bacteria will soon be immune to all antibiotics. We would be totally disarmed, something like what we experienced before the discovery of the penicillin.