Jun 30, 2024 07:54 PM
(This post was last modified: Jun 30, 2024 08:00 PM by C C.)
https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/medica...y-not-real
Take-home message:
'
- Our blood was long considered to be sterile, meaning free of viable microbes, unless a dangerous infection leaked into it, causing sepsis
- Studies have provided evidence for the presence of bacteria in the blood of some healthy humans, leading to the hypothesis that, much like in our gut, our blood is host to a microbiome
- The largest study ever done on the topic provided strong evidence against this hypothesis. It seems that when non-disease-causing bacteria find themselves in our blood, it is temporary and occasional
EXCERPTS: This blood microbiome story could end here and simply be an interesting example of scientific research homing in on a curious finding, testing a hypothesis, and ultimately refuting it (or at the very least providing strong evidence against it). But given the incentives of modern research and the social-media spotlight cast on the academic literature, there are two slightly worrying angles here that merit discussion.
Scientists are more and more incentivized to find practical applications for their research...
[...] My second concern is that the transitory leakage of bacteria into the blood, as evidenced by the recent Nature Microbiology paper, will be used as confirmation of a pseudoscientific entity: leaky gut syndrome...
[...] Nuanced scientific findings have a history of being stolen, distorted, and toyed with by fake doctors to give credence to their pet theories. Though I have yet to see examples of it, I suspect work done on this hypothesized blood microbiome will similarly get weaponized... (MORE - details)
PAPER: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-023-01350-w
Take-home message:
'
- Our blood was long considered to be sterile, meaning free of viable microbes, unless a dangerous infection leaked into it, causing sepsis
- Studies have provided evidence for the presence of bacteria in the blood of some healthy humans, leading to the hypothesis that, much like in our gut, our blood is host to a microbiome
- The largest study ever done on the topic provided strong evidence against this hypothesis. It seems that when non-disease-causing bacteria find themselves in our blood, it is temporary and occasional
EXCERPTS: This blood microbiome story could end here and simply be an interesting example of scientific research homing in on a curious finding, testing a hypothesis, and ultimately refuting it (or at the very least providing strong evidence against it). But given the incentives of modern research and the social-media spotlight cast on the academic literature, there are two slightly worrying angles here that merit discussion.
Scientists are more and more incentivized to find practical applications for their research...
[...] My second concern is that the transitory leakage of bacteria into the blood, as evidenced by the recent Nature Microbiology paper, will be used as confirmation of a pseudoscientific entity: leaky gut syndrome...
[...] Nuanced scientific findings have a history of being stolen, distorted, and toyed with by fake doctors to give credence to their pet theories. Though I have yet to see examples of it, I suspect work done on this hypothesized blood microbiome will similarly get weaponized... (MORE - details)
PAPER: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-023-01350-w