The influential Infectious Diseases Society of America has stepped into it (an ongoing debate, that is), recommending that fecal transplants — in which donor fecal matter is transferred to a patient - be used for persons in which standard antibiotic treatments for severe diarrhea caused by a bacterium called C. difficile have failed.
More than half a million Americans get the bacterial infection each year. It's particularly dangerous for older persons and those with weakened immune systems. Therapeutic fecal matter, usually introduced through a colonoscopy, provides a boost of healthy bacteria to help patients regenerate their own gut flora, essentially pushing out C. diff.
The Society notes that the success rate for fecal transplants is near 90 percent, though long-term data is lacking and the FDA still considers fecal transplants to be an "investigational new drug."
Body of Knowledge
According to the FBI, the odds of two fingerprints being the same is one in 64 million.
Get Me That, Stat!
Overall health spending in the U.S. is projected to jump 5.3 percent this year, up from 4.6 percent last year. A big driver is prescription drug spending, which is anticipated to grow 6.6 percent in 2018 compared to 2.9 percent in 2017. In actual dollars, that means Americans are expected to spend $360.2 billion on medicines this year or more than the 2017 gross domestic product of Israel.
Counts
50: Estimated percentage of persons who stop taking a statin within one year of being prescribed the drug
Source: STAT
Life in Big Macs
One hour of excavating the garage burns 340 calories (based on a 150-pound person) or the equivalent of 0.5 Big Macs.
Doc talk
Pruritus: itching
Phobia of the Week
Acerophobia: fear of sourness
Never Say Diet
The Major League Eating record for chili is 9.75 32-ounce bowls (2.4 gallons) in six minutes, held by Carmen Cincotti. The race featured many an explosive finish.
Best Medicine
First guy: "I'm scheduled for a colonoscopy tomorrow."
Second guy: "Oh man, I hear the prep is the worst part."
First guy: "No, they've improved it. All I have to do is consume four large cans of alphabet soup."
Second guy: "What does that do?"
First guy: "It produces a huge vowel movement."
Hypochondriac's Guide
Cyclic vomiting syndrome sounds exactly like what it is: You're fine and perfectly functional for weeks or months and then, suddenly and without obvious cause, you begin vomiting — which may last for hours or even days. The reason why is not known, but there appear to be many triggers: infections, certain foods, exhaustion, stress and menstruation among them. Chronic vomiting can damage both the esophagus and stomach. There is no cure, but some drugs can calm the stomach, which helps. For severe episodes, hospitalization may be required to prevent dehydration.
Observation
"God presumably did not put an opiate receptor in our brains so that we could eventually discover how to get high on opium."
—Candace Pert, psychopharmacological researcher
Medical History
This week in 1819, the first clinical description of an allergy was delivered by Dr. John Bostock to the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society meeting in London. Bostock's paper was called "A Case of the Periodical Affectation of the Eyes and Chest." It was, in reality, a description of his personal sufferings and what eventually came to be called "hay fever."
Med School
Q: Where are your Haversian canals?
A: Wherever you have bones. The canals form an interior network within compact bone through which blood vessels, nerves and lymphatic vessels pass.
Epitaphs
Here lie I, Martin Elginbrod
Have mercy on my soul, Lord God
As I on you, were I Lord God
And you were Martin Elginbrod
—Cemetery tombstone in Aberdeen, Scotland
To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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