Are You a Good Bacteria, or a Bad Bacteria?
Yesterday, I was catching up on my backlog of podcasts from ITConversations, and heard an interesting piece on biotechnology.
The interviewer (Dr. Moira Gunn) was speaking with the Senior Vice President of BioGaia, Anders Zachrisson, about their discoveries and products. Zachrisson and co. are using so called “good bacteria” to counter digestive tract infections with “bad bacteria.” In particular, Lactobacillus reuteri eradicates Helicobacter pylori. Translated to english, that means that a helpful, natural bacterial that resides in our digestive tract can kill off a nasty ulcer and cancer causing bacteria that was previously only treatable with massive doses of antibiotics; antibiotics which many strains of the bug are quicky developing a resistance to.
Their clinical results have been incredibly positive, with a high cure rate and zero side effects.
In a strange coincidence, as I was listening to this yesterday, two Australian researchers were being awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery that bacteria cause ulcers. That discovery has lead to the development of treatments such as L. reuteri, and will change the way modern medicine treats ulcers and other digestive tract ailments.
Italy is the first market to allow the usage of L. reuteri, and it’s already helping millions of people there. It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes the product to make it’s way through the FDA approval process here in the US.
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