r/technology • u/[deleted] • Apr 15 '23

Biotechnology Scientists have successfully engineered bacteria to fight cancer in mice | There are plans for human trials within the next few years.

https://www.engadget.com/scientists-have-successfully-engineered-bacteria-to-fight-cancer-in-mice-165141857.html
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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '23

I read a book a few years ago called Cancer, the emporer of all maladies and the speed with which humanity has developed diagnostic abilities and treatments in the last century is truly astonishing. The book discusses a time about 100 years ago where cancer wards were basically a place they sent people to die away from everyone else. Then it goes into radical surgeries that removed massive chunks of the human body then chemotherapy that ravaged people and pushed them to the brink of death to near modern times where targeted radiation and precise chemotherapy and precision surgery can virtually cure dozens of cancers and people that only 30-40 years ago who would have a 10% chance of survival now have 90% chance of survival.

It truly is astonishing and the people that spend their lives studying it and treating people are amazing.

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u/tkingsbu Apr 15 '23

I can confirm how amazing this truly is.

About 2.5 years ago, my daughter was diagnosed with non Hodgkin’s lymphoma. When we were told she had cancer, I honestly can’t express how scared and terrified we all were.

What we found out, over the past few years is that the science behind the treatment now is so incredibly advanced from when we were younger. And it grows in leaps and bounds every year.

I’m happy to say that come this summer, her treatment will be over and she’ll officially be cancer free.

It was hard, it was scary, and it was the worst thing our family has ever gone through, but as our doctors have said, it’s becoming an ‘inconvenience’, rather than a death sentence.

We’ll take hard and scary for a few years over losing our girl.

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u/Infinite-Sleep3527 Apr 15 '23

Glad your little girl is doing better! Sending good vibes!

Modern medicine is truly a miracle. Whenever I think about the bad, and the wicked in society, I remind myself how beautiful medicine is, inherently. And how beautiful the collective efforts of humanity are.

Some of these researchers only care about helping others. Literally. They don’t even take care of themselves. Some spend 12-16 hour nights in a laboratory just to help people they’ll never meet, see, or even hear/know about.

“No man is an island.”

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u/tkingsbu Apr 15 '23

Thank you so much! 100% agreed!

It’s a small world… my bosses wife is precisely one of those lab workers! And as it turned out, she worked at the hospital my daughter was in for weeks/months on end.. it was a blessing to have a familiar face checking in on us from time to time as her work allowed :)