Missing Microbes

Martin J. Blaser MD., 2014, Bvtn 615.7922

Director of human microbiome project at NYU, president of Infectious Disease Society of America. Decades of studies of H. Pylori, proxy for hundreds of other gut species.

• p30 digoxin absorption depends on gut bacteria
• p31 New Guinea highlanders, 90% of diet is sweet potato, gut bacteria make amino acids.
• p76 MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), congressional testimony for legislation to develop new antibiotics
• p87 thalidomide for morning sickness, at least 10K to 20K birth defects in Europe (not FDA approved in the US)
• p89 DES (diethylstilbestrol) for menopause, stopping lactation, reducing breast enlargement. Increased vaginal cancer in daughters, increased genital problems in sons.
• p123, p130 H. Pylori eradication can lead to GERD, asthma
• p175 new celiacs 40% more likely after antibioltics, metronidiazole doubles the risk.
• p177 missing microbial diversity can lead to IBD inflammatory bowel diseases: Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis

• p203 453 million prescriptions in France between 2002 and 2006, nearly 10 million per month ( 453 / (4*48) -> 9.4M )

  • page cites Variation in antibiotic use in the European Union Otto Cars et al. Lancet 2001

    • in abstract (paywalled article), says 36.5 doses per 1000 people per day in 1997.

    • 60 million people in France, so 2.2 million doses per day for the whole population, 800 million doses per year in 1997.

    • If these were all prescriptions of 10, that would be 80 million prescriptions per year in 1997, less than 7 million per month
    • perhaps some will be single dose prescriptions, but most of the doses will be for chronic conditions and more per prescription, so it seems likely that the total number of prescriptions is smaller. With 3.2 doctors per 1000, that is 11 doses per doctor per day.

• p115: ... contacted by Dr. Abraham Nomura, principal investigator of the Japan-Hawaii Cancer Study based in Honolulu. He and his colleagues had done pioneering work on the disease risks of Japanese-Americans living in Hawaii ...

• Between 1965 and 1968, more than 7,400 Japanese-American men born between 1900 and 1919 enrolled in the Honolulu Heart Study. These men, veterans of the 442nd Regiment who fought in the U.S. Army with great distinction during World War II, were heros of mine ever since I had learned about them from reading James Michener's book Hawaii as a boy. When Japanese-Americans were being rounded up and incarcerated on the West Coast of the United States, these men risked (and some lost) their lives and limbs to defend their country. The late Senator Daniel Inouye was one of them.

• By 1989, blood samples from nearly 6,000 of these veterans had been obtained and frozen. ...