Файл: Medical_Myths_Lies_and_Half-Truths_guidebook.pdf

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worldwide eradicated. So far, that’s only happened with smallpox. Others 
have raised fears that vaccines weaken the immune system, that natural 
immunity is better. However, that’s actually not the case. Vaccines strengthen 
the immune system by providing a challenge to the immune system against a 
very particular antigen or group of antigens. 

These myths are not benign. I think of all the myths that I cover in this 
course, myths surrounding vaccines have the potential to do the most harm. 
People want and need to be able to make informed decisions about their own 
health care and the health care of their family. When armed with the correct, 
science-based information, people can make very effective health decisions 
for themselves and their loved ones. 

Ŷ

Novella, “Vaccines and Autism.”

Of

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 t, 

Autism

’

s False Prophets

. 

1. 

Why do fears and misinformation persist about vaccines?

2. 

What are the real risks of vaccines?

    Suggested Reading

    Questions to Consider

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Lecture 12: 

Antibiotics, Germs, and Hygiene

Antibiotics, Germs, and Hygiene 

Lecture 12

This is a war, if you will, that we are currently engaged in, the medical 
community. We are trying to preserve the effectiveness of our antibiotic 
armamentarium. Meanwhile, using antibiotics relentlessly is resulting 
in the development of more and more bacterial resistance—to the point 
that some fear we may enter what’s called a post-antibiotic era.

W

e are awash in germs. Bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa are 
all organisms that want to invade our bodies and cause infection. 
But we have evolved a defense against this—our immune system. 

We also have the advantage of technology, including antibiotics, that we can 
use to help our immune system in this 

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 ght. 

There are several antibiotic and germ myths. The big one is that antibiotics 
work against many different types of infections, including the cold. This is 
not the case: Antibiotics work only against bacteria. Another myth is that 
all antibiotics kill bacteria. In fact, most antibiotics are bacteriostatic: They 
only keep bacteria from reproducing, giving our immune systems time to do 
the killing themselves. Some antibiotics, however, are bacteriocidal, which 
means they directly kill bacteria. 

I often hear it said that people can become resistant to antibiotics. In fact, 
people themselves do not become resistant to antibiotics; it’s the bacterial 
populations inside of our bodies that become resistant. The caution is not 
that you will become resistant, but that you can become a breeding ground 
for resistant species of bacteria. Another myth is that antibiotics weaken the 
immune system. This is not true. They do not have any effect on the immune 
system. The immune system, in most cases, still has to 

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 ght off the infection. 

Antibiotics just give the immune system a chance to do so.

Some people believe that if an antibiotic has not worked in a speci

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 c 

individual previously, that antibiotic won’t work in the future. That is not 
necessarily true. The effectiveness of any particular antibiotic is speci

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 c to 

the infection—the strain and the species of bacteria—not the person.

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One thing about antibiotics that is not a myth is that they should not be 
overused: Overuse of antibiotics increases resistance. Therefore, it is 
important to 

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 nd alternatives to antibiotics. In other words, it’s important 

to 

¿

 nd ways to minimize 

infections rather than 
relying on an antibiotic 
whenever you need to. 
Some alternatives are true 
and effective. But there are 
a lot that are myths. 

One common myth that is 
offered as an alternative 
to treating a bacterial 
infection with antibiotics 
is supplements or products 
that boost the immune 
system. If you are healthy, 
well-nourished, and not 
sick, your immune system will be functioning optimally. There is no way 
to boost it or increase its activity beyond its already optimal functioning. 
Only if there is something inhibiting or interfering with the activity of the 
immune system can you take steps to restore the immune system to its 
normal functional state.

One product that has been around for years as an alternative to antibiotics 
is called colloidal silver. This is actually the element silver, in a suspension 
that you are meant to drink. The claim is that silver has antibacterial activity. 
Silver is used externally to sterilize, for example, medical equipment—but it 
is not meant to be taken internally. 

One alternative, however, is genuine: honey. Honey, while not an antibiotic 
when taken internally, does have antiseptic properties when used externally. 
Studies show that using honey as an antiseptic in a wound works quite 
well—almost as well as pharmaceutical creams that are designed speci

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 cally 

for that purpose. 

Hand washing is the most effective way to 
prevent getting an infection.

© Medioimages/Photodisc/Thinkstock.

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Lecture 12: 

Antibiotics, Germs, and Hygiene

Hand washing is the single most effective behavior to prevent getting an 
infection, such as the cold, 

À

 u, or more serious bacterial infections. This 

is especially true if you are exposed to people who you know to be sick. 
Health-care workers, for example, especially need to wash their hands. What 
about antibacterial soaps? These are very common on the market these days. 
What makes a soap antibacterial is that it contains a chemical, the most 
common one being triclosan, that has an antibacterial effect. But in 2007, a 
systematic review concluded that antibacterial soaps containing triclosan are 
not more effective than regular soap. However, there are some studies that 
show that it may be more effective if it is combined with other antibacterial 
agents. The jury is still out on whether we can develop an antibacterial soap 
that has advantages. 

We do need to take reasonable measures to stay hygienic and free from 
infection. Knowing when to use an antibiotic is also very helpful, as is 
knowing when not to use an antibiotic. While basic hygiene is good, scientists 
are actually considering the possibility that our modern society may in fact 
be too hygienic for our own good. A little exposure to germs may not be a 
bad thing. 

Ŷ

Brown, 

Penicillin Man

.

 Scienti

¿

 c American Readers, 

Infectious Disease.

1. 

How often, in what circumstances, and with what kind of products 
should you wash your hands?

2. 

Is it possible to have too much hygiene? Why or why not?

3. 

When is it appropriate to use antibiotics?

    Suggested Reading

    Questions to Consider

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Vague Symptoms and Fuzzy Diagnoses 

Lecture 13

We begin to get a little suspicious when the more we investigate 
a questionable diagnosis or a vague diagnosis, the less we seem 
to understand about the pathophysiology. If the people who are 
promoting the notion of this problematic diagnosis use what we call 
special pleading, they explain away all the lack of evidence that we 
would predict should be there if the disease had a speci

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 c biological 

cause, for example. 

T

his lecture is about diagnoses: the labels we attach to the signs and 
symptoms that people have. The core myth of this lecture is that all 
diagnoses are the same and equally valid. The truth is that we arrive 

at these labels in very different ways. For example, there are some diagnoses 
that we would call a disease, like diabetes. It’s a pathological disorder we 
can identify. A disorder does not necessarily have a pathological change in 
any cells, but there is some problem with functioning that is identi

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 able; 

an example of this is attention de

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 cit hyperactivity disorder. There are also 

syndromes, which are lists of signs and symptoms that tend to occur together. 
A clinical syndrome may not be one speci

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 c disease. ALS is actually a 

clinical syndrome, not a speci

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 c diagnosis. 

It also is important to recognize that there are categories of diseases. 
Sometimes we may identify that a disease belongs to a certain category—for 
example, in

À

 ammatory versus nutritional versus degenerative—even though 

we can’t get more speci

¿

 c than that. This all relates to how doctors make 

diagnoses in the 

¿

 rst place. What do they mean? How do we understand 

and use them in medical practice? Ultimately, the goal of understanding the 
illness is to come up with treatments that are effective. 

We don’t want to wait until we understand every last thing about a 
disease or a disorder before we treat it. There are multiple ways to treat a 
syndrome or a disorder before we completely understand its cause. People 
often think only in terms of curing a disease, but mostly physicians simply 
treat various aspects of a disease. For example, we may reduce the risk of