Blog 1 Malnourished Gain Lifesaver in Antibiotics

The article that I chose was published on January 30, 2013 and was written by Denise Grady, and is titled  “Malnourished Gain lifesaver in Antibiotics”.  The article described two studies about new findings that could aid those with severe malnutrition. In the first study they found that giving children who suffer from malnutrition an antibiotic could save many lives every year. They found that those who are malnourished may be suffering from more than a lack of food. In a week study researchers found that giving the malnourished children an antibiotic did increase survival rates. Because of the findings the World Health Organization will recommend the use of antibiotics in treating malnutrition. In the second study, for the first time they found that an imbalance in bacterial portions of the stomach may also lead to severe malnutrition called kwashiorkor. They also found that fortified peanut butter could aid in restoring the proper balance. But it will be necessary to feed to children the peanut butter for longer than a few months which is typical. A researcher not associated with the study, Dr. David Relman of Stanford University perceived the findings well said that “an increased understanding of the gut microbiome could lead to better treatments for malnutrition.” An experiment led by Dr. Trehan and others involved 2,767 children, 6 months to 5 years old, who had severe malnutrition. All of them were given the fortified peanut butter and were at random given an antibiotic or placebo for one week. Based on their findings they found that for every 100 children treated, two to three could be saved, and treating a million could save more than 20,000. “Within a week of treatment the kids were gaining incredible amounts of weight”, Dr.Trehan said. For children who had kwashiorkor the bacteria in their stomach became more healthy when they were given the fortified peanut butter, but it went back to normal when they were not given the peanut butter anymore.

I am glad that there are efforts being made to help those children who are malnourished. So many children die every year as a result of malnutrition and something needs to be done to fix this issue. The use of the antibiotics and the fortified peanut butter may not be able to save every child suffering from malnutrition but it seems these researchers have found something that may significantly affect those who malnourished. I feel that more doctors need to take these recent findings into consideration and start treating more patients who are malnourished with antibiotics and also the fortified peanut butter. The best result of these new findings will be an increase is to save as many children’s lives as possible because malnutrition is an problem that takes so many innocent lives every year.


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/health/antibiotics-can-save-lives-of-severely-malnourished-children-studies-find.html?ref=world

january 30 2013
Bria Gill
11.32 P.M