Quoted message said:Subject: Re: Infection / bloodletting / phlebotomy
Bloodletting's Benefits
Ancient Medical Practice Worked, Study Shows
By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD
on Friday, September 10, 2004
More From WebMD
Sept. 10, 2004 -- Score one for the medical experts of the distant past. The
old practice of bloodletting may have worked, and new research may show us why.
Before antibiotics were developed, bloodletting was used to treat serious
illnesses.
In fact, America's first president, George Washington, is said to have had 80
ounces of his blood drained from his body in a last-ditch effort to save him in
his last hours of life.
He had fallen ill after being caught in sleet and snow while riding around his
farm a few days earlier, according to biographer Jack Warren Jr.
It didn't work. Washington died on Dec. 14, 1799.
Some experts blame the bloodletting; others say infection was the problem.
Bloodletting was going out of style by then, but the fact that such an
important person was given that treatment indicates it was once a
state-of-the-art technique.
"As recently as 1942, Sir William Osler's highly regarded medical textbook
advocated bloodletting as a treatment for acute pneumonia," writes Tracey
Rouault, MD, of the National Institutes of Health in Science.
Shedding New Light
Those bygone doctors probably didn't know why bloodletting sometimes worked,
but new research presents a possible reason.
Scientists, including Eric Skaar of the University of Chicago, recently studied
a type of bacteria called Staphylococcus aureus or simply "staph." This
bacteria, which can be carried on the skin or nostrils of healthy people is
also responsible for skin infections such as boils or pimples. The bacteria can
also cause serious infections of the blood, bones, and lungs (pneumonia).
Recently these bacteria, like many others, have become more and more resistant
to antibiotic therapy.
Staph thrives on iron compounds, scavenging it from the animals it infects. It
obtains most of the iron it needs to grow during infection.
Specifically, it prefers a kind of iron found in heme, the molecule in red
blood cells that helps carry oxygen. It's as if the bacterium scans its host's
menu of iron compounds, hoping to find heme.
"Heme iron is the preferred iron source during the initiation of infection,"
write Skaar and colleagues in the Sept. 10 issue of Science.
If no heme is available, the bacterium's chances of thriving may fail.
The researchers identified a gene cluster within the bacteria that promotes
heme transfer, to the bacterium's advantage.
But when those genes mutate, it's harder for the bacteria to launch a
successful infection, according to the researchers' studies of mice and worms.
Extreme Technique
What does all this have to do with bloodletting?
Skaar's team didn't address bloodletting.
But the idea boils down to this: The less blood that's available, the harder it
is for the bacterium to scrounge up enough heme to thrive.
"Bloodletting in the preantibiotic era may have been an effective mechanism for
starving bacterial pathogens of iron and slowing bacterial growth," writes
Rouault.
These days, we have different ways to handle infections.
Though bloodletting is out of vogue -- and none of the researchers is
suggesting its revival -- the reasons why it sometimes worked may be clearer.
They say that targeting or inhibiting the bacteria's ability to obtain iron is
a promising area of research that may create novel options for therapy against
infection.
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SOURCES: Skaar, E. Science, Sept. 10, 2004; vol 305: pp 1626-1628. Rouault, T.,
Science, Sept. 10, 2004; vol 305: pp 1577-1578. News release, Science. WebMD
Health: "Some Things In Medicine Never Change." George Washington Biography,
Jack Warren Jr.
Who loves ya.
Tom
Jesus Was A Vegetarian! http://jesuswasavegetarian.7h.com
Man Is A Herbivore! http://pages.ivillage.com/ironjustice/manisaherbivore
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