1 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:11,119 Speaker 1: How the extraordinaries. In a prior episode, we took a 2 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: historic look at cholera, and just like before, you should 3 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: keep in mind that cholera is a pretty awful disease, 4 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 1: so we'll be discussing both disturbing symptoms and death. But 5 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:26,760 Speaker 1: today we're taking a more modern approach. We'll talk about 6 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,920 Speaker 1: what we've learned about how vibrio cholera goes about inducing 7 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:35,160 Speaker 1: catastrophic diarrhea, where these bacteria can be found when they're 8 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:38,559 Speaker 1: not wreaking havoc upon our intestines, and the methods we 9 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:42,640 Speaker 1: use to treat cholera. We'll also take a short foray 10 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 1: through the colossally bad ideas we've had for treating cholera, 11 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: because wow, we've tried out some really bad ideas. Welcome 12 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:54,960 Speaker 1: to Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe. 13 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 2: Hi Daniel, I'm a particle physicist and I just installed 14 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:13,880 Speaker 2: bedezs and every toilet in my house. 15 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 3: Hello. 16 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:20,680 Speaker 1: I'm Kelly Waiter Smith. I Uh, I feel like I 17 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 1: didn't need to know that. 18 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:24,520 Speaker 2: Starting with the toilet and information at the very top. 19 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:26,559 Speaker 1: I don't feel like I needed to know that about your. 20 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 2: Are we talking about diarrhea today? 21 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 3: Sure? 22 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: But that doesn't have to be connected to beidets. I 23 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: encountered my first bidet when I lived in Davis, California, 24 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 1: and I went to a sushi restaurant and I was like, 25 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:42,039 Speaker 1: what is this my Why do toilets need buttons? And 26 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:45,839 Speaker 1: then I was like, I pushed a button. I was like, whoa, whoa, 27 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: And I don't know that I need a bidet in 28 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:48,600 Speaker 1: my house. 29 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:51,120 Speaker 2: I see, well, I just came back from two weeks 30 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 2: in Japan and Korea, and so I experienced toilets with 31 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 2: control panels, and I pressed that button and I went, whoa, whoa. 32 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: I gotta say, this makes me wish we had we 33 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:06,720 Speaker 1: were releasing videos so that people can see the face 34 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:09,120 Speaker 1: that you made. Although maybe it's better we don't. 35 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:12,800 Speaker 2: No, yeah, exactly, everybody makes that face in private in 36 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:14,960 Speaker 2: the bidet, you know. And it turns out it's actually 37 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,800 Speaker 2: quite easy to turn your toilet into a bidet. 38 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: Wow. Is the water heated or is it cold? 39 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:24,240 Speaker 2: Yes? Nice warm, toasty water, yes, exactly. 40 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 1: Okay, So actually it was your trip to Asia that 41 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,519 Speaker 1: made you come home and add bidets to all your Okay, Yeah. 42 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:32,800 Speaker 2: I was like, wow, we are still using a very 43 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:36,079 Speaker 2: archaic form of this technology, it can be made much 44 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:38,600 Speaker 2: more pleasant. Why don't we do that? Oh my gosh, 45 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 2: it's like eighty dollars, let's do it. 46 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:43,679 Speaker 1: Man. You know there are some people who are all like, man, 47 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: it's a shame that cultures are homogenizing, and you're all like, no, 48 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:51,639 Speaker 1: this is great. We should be taking stuff from Asian cultures. 49 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: We should be given stuff to them. They've got McDonald's. 50 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 1: Why don't we have bidets? 51 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean ask yourself this question. If you got 52 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 2: peanut butter on a shag car, but would you just 53 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 2: wipe it up with a piece of paper? 54 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 1: No? No, I would. 55 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:11,839 Speaker 2: Well, Okay, there you go, there you go. I think 56 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:13,519 Speaker 2: we know the relevance of that example. 57 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: Yes, we do. Thank you for choosing peanut butter and 58 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:19,520 Speaker 1: rooting peanut butter for me. I think it's time we 59 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: move on, all. 60 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 2: Right, and don't think about me next time you're having 61 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:23,399 Speaker 2: peanut butter. 62 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:28,520 Speaker 1: Thanks Daniel. Thanks all right. So in the last episode, 63 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: we talked about the work that John Snow did to 64 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 1: help us understand how cholera gets to people the fecal 65 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: oral route passing through water into our mouths unfortunately, and 66 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: today we're going to talk a little bit about the 67 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: science that has been done in the one hundred plus 68 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 1: years since to help us better understand what cholera is 69 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 1: doing to our bodies and help us to treat people 70 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: who have encountered the bacteria that causes cholera so that 71 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 1: we can save their lives exactly. 72 00:03:56,840 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 2: And so it's going to be a whole episode full 73 00:03:58,600 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 2: of too much information. 74 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 1: That is my specialty. Okay, So before we really dig in, 75 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: I want to remind everybody that in the last Cholera 76 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:11,280 Speaker 1: episode I mentioned that we're actually in the middle of 77 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: an ongoing cholera pandemic. And my sense is that most 78 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 1: of us don't realize that because we're lucky enough to 79 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:21,359 Speaker 1: not have to hear about or deal with cholera on 80 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:25,560 Speaker 1: a daily basis. So I asked the extraordinaries, when did 81 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 1: the most recent cholera pandemic, that is, the seventh cholera 82 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:35,200 Speaker 1: pandemic end? So let's go ahead and hear their answers. 83 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 2: Cholera pandemic. I have no idea, Sorry, no answer, Kelly, 84 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:45,360 Speaker 2: I never heard of cholera pandemics. Please educate me on that. 85 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:48,599 Speaker 4: HI A bit of a guess, but I would reckon. 86 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:54,200 Speaker 4: The most recent cholera academic probably ended in the nineteen thirties, 87 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 4: sometime after the end of the First World War. I 88 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 4: don't remember any cholera event, so I'm going to say 89 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:05,599 Speaker 4: before I was born it ended nineteen sixty eight. 90 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 3: If you asked like that, I would say it's ongoing. 91 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:10,680 Speaker 4: But I really don't have any idea. 92 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:13,719 Speaker 2: Just guessing here. In the nineteen twenties. 93 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:18,679 Speaker 3: Colera pandemic, and there's been several I have no idea 94 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 3: when it ended, but I sure hope it was a 95 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:23,440 Speaker 3: while ago and that there are few possibilities of it 96 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 3: coming back. But given the show, I'm a little bit concerned. 97 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:30,320 Speaker 2: Since there are still many parts in the world with 98 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:35,680 Speaker 2: questionable sanitization, I would guess like last year. Maybe my 99 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 2: wild guess here is that the most recent cholera pandemic 100 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 2: is still happening. 101 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 4: I have no idea. I don't even know when it started. 102 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:48,240 Speaker 2: Maybe it hasn't ended yet. 103 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: When did the most recent colera pandemic? And I don't know, 104 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: but I think maybe it ended when they learned to 105 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:55,799 Speaker 1: treat the water that was causing a color. 106 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:58,760 Speaker 2: I don't know, but probably much more recently than one 107 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:01,279 Speaker 2: would guess maybe in the nineteen sixties. 108 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: Okay, So as we sort of suspected not a lot 109 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:08,360 Speaker 1: of awareness that we're in the middle of a cholera 110 00:06:08,440 --> 00:06:11,440 Speaker 1: pandemic because it's not really part of our lives if 111 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:13,359 Speaker 1: you happen to be living in a place, you know, 112 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:15,200 Speaker 1: like the United States, for example. 113 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 2: So remind us Kelly, cholera. It's a virus, it's a bacteria, 114 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 2: it's a pathogen. What is it? 115 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:23,960 Speaker 1: It is a bacteria. And so it is a bacteria 116 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:27,680 Speaker 1: that gets into the water. And for you to get cholera, 117 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 1: you need to ingest a lot of it. So if 118 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:35,600 Speaker 1: you just sow, something like a million or maybe one 119 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 1: hundred million need to be ingested for you to get sick, 120 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:40,480 Speaker 1: and Daniel. 121 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:42,719 Speaker 2: One hundred million, one hundred. 122 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:45,440 Speaker 1: Million, And so you might think, how would you accidentally 123 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:48,520 Speaker 1: ingest one hundred million cholera bacteria? Right? 124 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 2: Is that like ten liters of cholera leased water. 125 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:53,719 Speaker 1: Now it turns out that in like a regular cup 126 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:56,039 Speaker 1: of water, you could have something like two hundred million 127 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:58,880 Speaker 1: cholera bacteria and you probably wouldn't detect them in there 128 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 1: because they're pretty tiny and the glass like wouldn't look cloudy. 129 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:04,120 Speaker 1: So you probably wouldn't know, but if you. 130 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:06,120 Speaker 2: Put them under a microscope, you could probably see them. 131 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:08,480 Speaker 1: Or yeah, yeah, but you know, how often do you 132 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 1: put your water under a microscope? 133 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 2: Yeah? Never, never from now on? Always but never. 134 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 1: All right, But so Daniel, like, you know, a million 135 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: to one hundred million before you get sick. How do 136 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:21,160 Speaker 1: you think we know that? 137 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:24,960 Speaker 2: Because people tried it on themselves, not. 138 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:29,960 Speaker 1: Tried it on themselves, but tried it on prisoners. But 139 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: the prisoners they signed consent forms. And so this was 140 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: the experiment that I read was done on a prison 141 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:41,120 Speaker 1: population in Maryland, and they signed consent forms and they 142 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:44,040 Speaker 1: were told that they could stop the experiment at any time, 143 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 1: and they were very carefully watched by physicians, and as 144 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 1: soon as they started to show symptoms, they were you know, 145 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 1: brought into an environment where they were treated very carefully 146 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 1: and they were watched very carefully. This was done in 147 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:54,080 Speaker 1: the seventies. 148 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 2: Wow, would that pass modern day i RB standards? 149 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:01,120 Speaker 1: So we actually do continue to infect people with cholera today, 150 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:03,119 Speaker 1: and we're going to talk about that later. 151 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:05,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, don't we know enough? We're still doing this to people. 152 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:08,680 Speaker 1: We are still doing this to people. Wow, hold your 153 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:11,840 Speaker 1: breath hold your cheeks. We're still gonna be talking about 154 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:12,320 Speaker 1: this later. 155 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:15,400 Speaker 2: So I just hope those poor people have access to 156 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 2: a bidet. Yeah, yeah, so they can feel clean and 157 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:20,040 Speaker 2: fresh after. 158 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:22,280 Speaker 1: Work, I guess in that. Yeah, I'm behind bidets in 159 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:25,600 Speaker 1: that situation, all right, Yeah, yeah, you're getting me on 160 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:29,320 Speaker 1: the same page. I guess so. But another thing that 161 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: we learned from these this prison population is that actually 162 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 1: it turns out cholera is really susceptible to acid. So like, 163 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:40,120 Speaker 1: if your stomach is particularly acidic at the moment, the 164 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:43,080 Speaker 1: cholera bacteria are much more likely to die. So even 165 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:46,200 Speaker 1: if you ingest something like one hundred million bacteria and 166 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: your stomach is having like a particularly acidic day, you 167 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: might not get cholera. 168 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:54,640 Speaker 2: Wow. So cholera is a bacteria. You got ingested billions 169 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:56,480 Speaker 2: of them. A lot of them die in your stomach. 170 00:08:56,800 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 2: Where do they end up setting up camp? 171 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:01,600 Speaker 1: The small intestine? And I'll note now that when we 172 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 1: do experiments with people to try to study cholera, we 173 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:08,320 Speaker 1: give them something that makes their stomach a more basic environment. 174 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:10,960 Speaker 1: So maybe you'll take some like sodium bicarbonate along with 175 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: your cholera bacteria. Wow, so you ingest a bunch of them, 176 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:17,679 Speaker 1: and then they go through your stomach. Some of them survive, 177 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 1: and then they get to your small intestine. The color 178 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:23,560 Speaker 1: of bacteria have a flagella, and so this is like 179 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:27,440 Speaker 1: a really long whip like appendage, and they use that 180 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:30,800 Speaker 1: flagella to try to get through the mucus that lines 181 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:34,199 Speaker 1: your small intestine. And so they like run into your 182 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:37,439 Speaker 1: mucus and they start shaking their butts and they're trying 183 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:39,480 Speaker 1: to get through the mucus so that they can get 184 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:41,599 Speaker 1: to the cells that line your intestine. 185 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:44,200 Speaker 2: But I thought the flagellum is like a propeller. You 186 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:46,360 Speaker 2: have it at the back to push you somewhere, like 187 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:48,760 Speaker 2: you know, like the motor on a boat, but here 188 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:50,640 Speaker 2: they're sort of like backing in. They're using it like 189 00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:51,079 Speaker 2: a drill. 190 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:54,679 Speaker 1: No no, so they sorry, they run in headfirst. Oh yeah, 191 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: and then they're using it to try to like corkscrew 192 00:09:56,800 --> 00:09:57,240 Speaker 1: their way in. 193 00:09:57,360 --> 00:09:57,599 Speaker 2: Got it. 194 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:00,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, So they keep going until they hit the 195 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:04,680 Speaker 1: cells of your intestine. And once they hit those epithelial cells, 196 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:07,680 Speaker 1: they sort of like cement themselves down and they start 197 00:10:07,679 --> 00:10:10,280 Speaker 1: to replicate. And so now they've got these little batches 198 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:13,360 Speaker 1: that are replicating and they start producing. 199 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:15,760 Speaker 2: A toxin, and so they somehow know where to go, 200 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:18,240 Speaker 2: like they are looking for this. They're not just swimming 201 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:20,160 Speaker 2: in all random directions and the ones that end up 202 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:22,720 Speaker 2: there set up camp. They're like all heading in that direction. 203 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:24,640 Speaker 1: They are all heading in that direction. 204 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:26,840 Speaker 2: Wow, that's a little creepy. 205 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:29,640 Speaker 1: It is creepy. Yeah, Bacteria and viruses and things that 206 00:10:29,679 --> 00:10:34,040 Speaker 1: we might think of as not being very smart can 207 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:35,480 Speaker 1: do pretty smart things. 208 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:38,239 Speaker 2: They seem more like aware of the environment that I imagined. 209 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:40,800 Speaker 2: Very cool. So then they start to replicate. 210 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, so then they start to replicate, and while they're replicating, 211 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:47,400 Speaker 1: they start producing a toxin. And this toxin is what 212 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:51,320 Speaker 1: is massively the problem for cholera se. So this toxin 213 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:54,760 Speaker 1: finds a way of like binding with your intestinal cells 214 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 1: and it gets taken up by your intestinal cells, and 215 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: when it's inside your intestine cells, it messes with your 216 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:04,160 Speaker 1: cells and it starts to mess with your what we 217 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:07,040 Speaker 1: call asmotic balance. But essentially, the way your body makes 218 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:10,360 Speaker 1: sure that you are extracting water from the small intestine 219 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:14,680 Speaker 1: to go into your body is by having different concentrations 220 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:17,559 Speaker 1: of ions on either side of the inside of your 221 00:11:17,559 --> 00:11:18,880 Speaker 1: intestine and in your body. 222 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:22,560 Speaker 2: So without getting too much into the chemistry, essentially you 223 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:25,200 Speaker 2: want the water passing through the small intestines to be 224 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:28,560 Speaker 2: less salty than the water in your body, so that 225 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:31,960 Speaker 2: it then comes into your body to balance the salinity. Right, 226 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:32,959 Speaker 2: isn't that the way it works? 227 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 1: Yep, that's exactly right. But then after this toxin gets 228 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:39,680 Speaker 1: taken up by your body, that changes, and now your 229 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:42,960 Speaker 1: intestine is saltier and the water in your body starts 230 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:46,800 Speaker 1: getting dumped into your intestine and you start losing massive 231 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:49,200 Speaker 1: amounts of water from your body, like we talked about 232 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:50,560 Speaker 1: in the last episode. 233 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:54,160 Speaker 2: And is this good somehow for the cholorobacteria. Are they 234 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:56,959 Speaker 2: doing this in order to affect something which is positive 235 00:11:56,960 --> 00:11:59,600 Speaker 2: for them, or so that you'll have massive diarrhea which 236 00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 2: spreads them or is this just like a random accidental 237 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:04,640 Speaker 2: byproduct that they don't even care about. 238 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:07,080 Speaker 1: So once you start losing this massive amounts of water, 239 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,439 Speaker 1: the bacteria that have been replicating like crazy release themselves 240 00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:14,240 Speaker 1: from the outside of the cells and they get back 241 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:17,319 Speaker 1: into the environments. And so in this way they managed 242 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:19,160 Speaker 1: to get back out so they can go off and 243 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 1: infect someone else I see. 244 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:22,600 Speaker 2: So it's definitely a part of their cycle. It's not 245 00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:23,880 Speaker 2: just an incidental thing. 246 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:27,800 Speaker 1: It is easy to imagine how it could benefit the bacteria. 247 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:30,720 Speaker 1: So I do think it seems to be a beneficial. 248 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:32,880 Speaker 2: Thing that makes me feel better somehow, because if our 249 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,960 Speaker 2: suffering and death was just like, well, we don't even 250 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:38,840 Speaker 2: really care and we're accidentally doing this thing that kills you, 251 00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:41,079 Speaker 2: that would feel more tragic somehow. 252 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:43,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess, So I guess if no one's benefiting 253 00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:48,640 Speaker 1: from it, but I guess I don't. Maybe. But Okay, 254 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:51,360 Speaker 1: so here's something that kind of blew my mind. And 255 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:54,080 Speaker 1: maybe you already know this, given who you're married to, 256 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:56,640 Speaker 1: and maybe I've just given away the punchline by saying that. 257 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:00,280 Speaker 1: But these genes that produce the toxin, I want to 258 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:03,560 Speaker 1: guess where they came from Mars Mars. 259 00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:05,840 Speaker 2: Wait wait, no, eight, there was a Katrina related clue here, 260 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:08,760 Speaker 2: So it's gotta be a virus. Is it a virus? 261 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:13,400 Speaker 1: It's a bacteria phage. Yeah, that's right, that's where well, 262 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:15,800 Speaker 1: and you probably read the outline. So it looks like 263 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:20,079 Speaker 1: there were two different bacteria phages that infected Vibrio cholera. 264 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:23,320 Speaker 1: At some point. One of those bacteria phages I believe 265 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:27,120 Speaker 1: gave the bacteria the ability to cling to the outside 266 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:29,280 Speaker 1: of the intestinal cells so that they could like form 267 00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:33,040 Speaker 1: those mats and start replicating, and the other one gives 268 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:36,560 Speaker 1: them the ability to make these toxins. And so without 269 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:41,200 Speaker 1: this bacteria phage, Vibrio cholera would not be this like 270 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:43,920 Speaker 1: human scourge that And did you catch that? I said 271 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:46,840 Speaker 1: scourge right? I didn't say it right in the smallpox episode, 272 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:49,880 Speaker 1: but I learn when the listeners write in lots of 273 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:52,079 Speaker 1: emails about how I'm not pronouncing things right. 274 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:56,920 Speaker 2: Gold star for Kelly makes everyone. But that's amazing that 275 00:13:56,960 --> 00:14:00,079 Speaker 2: this is virus power and it's like virus engineered. But 276 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 2: for those of you who don't remember, a lot of DNA, 277 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:07,160 Speaker 2: including human DNA, is affected by viruses. Viral infections in 278 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:10,679 Speaker 2: years past have altered our DNA, and some of our 279 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:14,839 Speaker 2: essential functions come from DNA that essentially was injected into 280 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:17,840 Speaker 2: the record by viruses, and that's true also for bacteria. 281 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:18,520 Speaker 2: It's incredible. 282 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:20,480 Speaker 1: It is incredible. But okay, so I feel like this 283 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:25,360 Speaker 1: begs the question what was Vibrio cholera doing before these 284 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:28,240 Speaker 1: viruses came along? And it turns out that this question 285 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:30,640 Speaker 1: is really important for trying to figure out how you 286 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:35,240 Speaker 1: can control cholera around the world, and it's also important 287 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:37,680 Speaker 1: for trying to understand what colera is doing when it's 288 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 1: not in our body right. And so the answer is 289 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 1: that Vibrio cholera is a bacteria that you find in 290 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:47,600 Speaker 1: aquatic ecosystems like all over the world. This is just 291 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:52,760 Speaker 1: an aquatic bacteria that you find living on zoplankton, like copapods, 292 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:56,160 Speaker 1: you find it living on like aquatic plants. This is 293 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: just an aquatic bacteria that is totally happy outside of 294 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,320 Speaker 1: our bodies, living in aquatic ecosystems. You find it in 295 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:06,840 Speaker 1: the Gulf Coast, you can find it in Lake Erie, 296 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 1: you can find it in the Ganges. It's just a 297 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,200 Speaker 1: happy bacteria out there that every once in a while 298 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:14,400 Speaker 1: ends up in a human body. So it looks like 299 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 1: there's lots of different strains of this bacteria. Some strains 300 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:20,680 Speaker 1: don't have these toxin genes, so if you swallowed one 301 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:24,720 Speaker 1: hundred million of them, nothing would happen. Other strains cause 302 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:29,400 Speaker 1: some like tummy issues, but nothing on the level of 303 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:34,000 Speaker 1: like cholera. But some of them cause pandemic cholera. And 304 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:37,360 Speaker 1: so like there's lots of different Wow kinds of Fibrio 305 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:39,920 Speaker 1: cholera that differ in how bad they are for us, 306 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:42,000 Speaker 1: but you know they're out in our waterways. 307 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:46,520 Speaker 2: So these were basically weaponized by these viruses. So the 308 00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:50,440 Speaker 2: story isn't this cholera infects you and uses you to 309 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:53,480 Speaker 2: make more of it. It's this virus took over this 310 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:57,080 Speaker 2: bacteria and instructed this bacteria to infect you to make 311 00:15:57,160 --> 00:15:59,720 Speaker 2: more of the bacteria, which in effect is making more 312 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:01,720 Speaker 2: of the original virus DNA. 313 00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:04,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that sounds a bit more directed than 314 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:06,479 Speaker 1: it probably, you know, actually. 315 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:07,600 Speaker 2: Was I just wanted to make it sound like a 316 00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:10,720 Speaker 2: conspiracy theory so we can climb up the podcast charts. 317 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:13,440 Speaker 1: Oh not, yes, okay, that I agree. That is exactly 318 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:16,280 Speaker 1: what happened, Daniel. This bacteria phage was out to get us, 319 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:19,320 Speaker 1: and through Vibrio cholera, it has achieved its goal. 320 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 2: Probably was engineered by the CIA, wasn't it. 321 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:25,640 Speaker 1: Yeah? No, I know, right, like, yeah, the exploding cigars 322 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:28,040 Speaker 1: for Castro didn't work, and so they were like, let's 323 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: go after a Vibrio cholera. 324 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:34,960 Speaker 2: So no, I don't think a CIA is pulling the strings. 325 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:37,840 Speaker 2: I think it probably is. Virus viruses control the world. 326 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:41,720 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, well, so I think we don't really understand 327 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:44,720 Speaker 1: what the bacteria phage was doing with this toxin before 328 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:47,080 Speaker 1: it got into the bacteria or you know, so we 329 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:49,840 Speaker 1: don't really understand all of the steps and why they happened. 330 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:52,480 Speaker 1: But we're you know, we're working on trying to understand that. 331 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:55,920 Speaker 1: But it does appear that, yes, this bacteria phage is 332 00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: what essentially gave cholera the ability to be this whole 333 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:03,200 Speaker 1: scourge upon humanity. And here we are, all. 334 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:06,000 Speaker 2: Right, So I ingest like a cup of fluid with 335 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:09,000 Speaker 2: like one hundred million collar bacteria in it, and then 336 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:12,080 Speaker 2: they colonize my lower intestine. They make lots more of themselves? 337 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 2: How many come out the other end? Like I'm a 338 00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:17,760 Speaker 2: color of factory. Now, how big a multiplier am I? 339 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 1: You could produce like a trillion cholera bacteria with a 340 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:26,080 Speaker 1: tea with a t yep, and you can release something 341 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:29,240 Speaker 1: like twenty liters of fluid with about of cholera. I know, 342 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:31,959 Speaker 1: just an incredible about flu Yes, flu Well, I mean 343 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:33,680 Speaker 1: you're vomiting also, so the. 344 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,760 Speaker 2: Fluid smelling rice filled fluid, right. 345 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:39,960 Speaker 1: Yep, yep, it's pretty unpleasant. And so you know, so 346 00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:43,199 Speaker 1: you can see how this is a great route for 347 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:46,160 Speaker 1: cholera to reproduce itself and get back into the environment 348 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:48,000 Speaker 1: in large quantities. 349 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:50,640 Speaker 2: Wow, if I'm doing my math right, one hundred million 350 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:53,360 Speaker 2: to a tillion, that's a factor of ten thousand. So 351 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:57,360 Speaker 2: every individual can ten thousand x the cholera population. 352 00:17:57,880 --> 00:18:00,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, but you know, if you have good sanitation and 353 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:05,159 Speaker 1: all of those fluids from either end end up in 354 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:08,080 Speaker 1: a good sanitation facility and they get treated appropriately, then 355 00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:10,560 Speaker 1: it's a dead end. And so sanitation makes a huge 356 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:13,359 Speaker 1: difference here, so to me, like you know, good sewer 357 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:16,320 Speaker 1: systems are one of the most amazing things that humanity 358 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:19,000 Speaker 1: has ever done. And you might understand now why I 359 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:23,440 Speaker 1: don't get invited to a lot of parties, but I'm 360 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:25,080 Speaker 1: very excited about sewers. 361 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:28,920 Speaker 2: And so why do people die of cholera? The toxin itself? 362 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,080 Speaker 2: Does it do more than just make you put out 363 00:18:31,119 --> 00:18:33,679 Speaker 2: twenty leaders or is it dumping twenty leaders of fluid? 364 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:34,199 Speaker 2: It kills you. 365 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:37,120 Speaker 1: It's dumping twenty leaders of fluid that kills you. That's 366 00:18:37,119 --> 00:18:39,040 Speaker 1: all it's got to do. At that point, your blood 367 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:41,679 Speaker 1: becomes super thick, your organs shut down because you just 368 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:43,639 Speaker 1: can't get oxygen and stuff to all the places it 369 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:45,960 Speaker 1: needs to go, and you go into a coma and 370 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:46,639 Speaker 1: die usually. 371 00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:47,280 Speaker 2: Yeah. 372 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:51,120 Speaker 1: Wow, all right, so now we know what the color 373 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:53,560 Speaker 1: of bacteria are doing. Let's take a break, and when 374 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:56,360 Speaker 1: we get back, let's start with the history of treatments 375 00:18:56,480 --> 00:19:00,240 Speaker 1: and begin with some of the less good treatments we've 376 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:02,119 Speaker 1: tried throughout the history of time. 377 00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:24,919 Speaker 2: All right, we're back, and we were talking about cholera, 378 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:28,320 Speaker 2: a disease that makes people produce twenty liters of fluid 379 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:31,159 Speaker 2: out the north and the south ends of the body 380 00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:32,680 Speaker 2: on average. 381 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:33,520 Speaker 1: Ish. 382 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:37,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, and we've done a deep dive on the pandemics 383 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:41,280 Speaker 2: and now we understand the biochemistry of cholera, how it 384 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:43,720 Speaker 2: affects you. So let's talk about the good side of it, 385 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:47,119 Speaker 2: developing treatments. How did we start to make this better? 386 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:49,720 Speaker 1: Well, I'm going to start on the bad side of 387 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:53,600 Speaker 1: treatments first. So, well, I was reading about the history 388 00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:55,760 Speaker 1: of cholera. There was this book that kept coming up 389 00:19:56,119 --> 00:20:00,880 Speaker 1: and it was Cholera It Causes Symptoms, Pathology Treatment by 390 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:05,160 Speaker 1: Robert's Bartholow. And Bartholow was a physician in the United 391 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:09,320 Speaker 1: States who was a physician through two cholera pandemics, and 392 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:11,760 Speaker 1: people thought of him as an expert, and so I 393 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:13,639 Speaker 1: was like, okay, well let's read what the expert was 394 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:16,159 Speaker 1: saying in eighteen ninety three. And so when I got 395 00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:19,480 Speaker 1: to the treatment section, I found myself saying out loud 396 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:21,119 Speaker 1: many times, oh. 397 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:26,080 Speaker 2: No, oh no, didn't. It wouldn't. 398 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:31,320 Speaker 1: So okay, So here's bad idea number one. Okay, okay, 399 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 1: so quick background they knew at this point. So this 400 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:37,159 Speaker 1: is eighteen ninety three. So Roberts totally believed the cholera 401 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:39,720 Speaker 1: was caused by vibrio cholera. He knows that it's a 402 00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:42,280 Speaker 1: bacteria that you're drinking it, it's in your gut. He's 403 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:42,840 Speaker 1: on board with that. 404 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:44,080 Speaker 2: You had the germ theory already. 405 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:45,960 Speaker 1: He had the germ theory already. Not everybody was on 406 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:48,320 Speaker 1: board with it at the time, but Bartholow was. So 407 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:50,760 Speaker 1: he's like, all right, so here's the idea. You've got 408 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:54,520 Speaker 1: these bacteria in your gut and they're gonna give you cholera. 409 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:58,520 Speaker 1: If you are early in a case of cholera and 410 00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:03,120 Speaker 1: you just got it, maybe the solution, and hear me out, 411 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:09,880 Speaker 1: is to give someone diarrhea. What to wash out the bacteria. 412 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 2: Oh, and it's like no. 413 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:17,760 Speaker 1: But if twenty liters of fluids washing through your intestines 414 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,800 Speaker 1: doesn't get rid of the bacteria. Yeah, And so the 415 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:24,359 Speaker 1: idea was, if you start the diarrhea early, you'll flush 416 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 1: the bacteria out before the collar it can get worse. 417 00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:30,879 Speaker 1: And so you'd give people castor oil to induce diarrhea 418 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:35,280 Speaker 1: and then you'd try to stop the diarrhea later on. 419 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,919 Speaker 1: And needless to say, this just started dehydrating people before 420 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:42,720 Speaker 1: the collar had a chance to dehydrate them further. So 421 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:45,080 Speaker 1: this not a good idea. 422 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:48,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, this is like there's a leak in the water tank, 423 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:50,359 Speaker 2: so let's blow a hole in the water tank. 424 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:54,280 Speaker 1: Yes, exactly right. And the word that they use for 425 00:21:54,480 --> 00:22:01,520 Speaker 1: the diarrhea inducing medications were eliminates, and which I had 426 00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:04,080 Speaker 1: never heard before, and so I that made me chuckle 427 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:06,679 Speaker 1: a little before I went back to feeling awful for 428 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:09,639 Speaker 1: the people who were being induced to have diarrhea before 429 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:12,160 Speaker 1: they were subsequently killed by diarrhea. 430 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:14,040 Speaker 2: And you know, in the defense of these folks, like 431 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:17,880 Speaker 2: there are some successful treatments which on the surface sound insane. 432 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:19,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, yep, yeah, you know. 433 00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:24,120 Speaker 2: Like drilling holes in people's skulls can sometimes relieve headaches. 434 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:27,560 Speaker 1: Relieve the pressure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know totally. 435 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:30,359 Speaker 2: So science is bizarre. If you don't have a fully 436 00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:33,280 Speaker 2: working model of how the body works, it's basically a 437 00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:35,840 Speaker 2: Rube Goldberg machine and we're just mashing on the levers. 438 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:38,120 Speaker 2: You never really know what's going to work. 439 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:39,840 Speaker 1: That's right. Well, and then in the past, we've given 440 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:42,359 Speaker 1: people malaria to cure late stage syphilis. 441 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:44,400 Speaker 2: Yeah exactly, and it worked, and. 442 00:22:44,359 --> 00:22:47,320 Speaker 1: It worked in some cases. Other cases it killed them. 443 00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:50,240 Speaker 1: But yes, we have done crazy things that have worked 444 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:52,080 Speaker 1: in the past. So you know, you try stiff in. 445 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:54,960 Speaker 2: The defense of bad idea number one, make them poop more. 446 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:55,600 Speaker 1: That's right. 447 00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:57,600 Speaker 2: I can't believe I ended up on that side of 448 00:22:57,600 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 2: this conversation. 449 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:02,200 Speaker 1: Oh, you know, it's good that defending outside the box 450 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 1: thinking they're something. 451 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:07,400 Speaker 2: I just I'm always fascinated on these historical journeys, trying 452 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:09,280 Speaker 2: to get in the minds of the people there, because 453 00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:12,199 Speaker 2: it's easy to judge them given our level of knowledge 454 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:15,360 Speaker 2: and our understanding and our mode of thinking. But it's 455 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:17,520 Speaker 2: another thing to try to get yourself in their heads 456 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:19,720 Speaker 2: and wonder, like, what did they know? What's this reasonable? 457 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:23,040 Speaker 2: Given what they understood, would I really have done something different? 458 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:25,439 Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, Well, so you know what, let's jump to 459 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:27,960 Speaker 1: what I had listed as bad idea number three because 460 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:30,399 Speaker 1: I feel like it kind of goes with the argument 461 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:33,600 Speaker 1: you're making right now. So okay, So bad idea number 462 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:37,040 Speaker 1: three was sort of built on this idea that if 463 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 1: you made someone's stomach more acidic y, you could fight 464 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:43,720 Speaker 1: the cholera. And I don't know that they actually understood 465 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:48,159 Speaker 1: at the time that stomach acidity did kill cholera bacteria, 466 00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:51,200 Speaker 1: but they were onto something and so sounds reasonable, yes, 467 00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:56,399 Speaker 1: and so they would give people various acidic solutions and 468 00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:58,600 Speaker 1: have them drink it, and you know, it did turn it. 469 00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:02,360 Speaker 1: We did discover later on through controlled experiments that acidic 470 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:06,640 Speaker 1: stomachs were good for killing bacteria, and so that that 471 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:13,480 Speaker 1: was a reasonable treatment. But then some prodigy decided, what 472 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:19,800 Speaker 1: if we instead injected the acid under someone's skin. And 473 00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:22,800 Speaker 1: I'm not sure what the thought was there, because I get, 474 00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:26,040 Speaker 1: you know, going after the bacteria in the intestine. But 475 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:30,280 Speaker 1: it turns out injecting sulfuric acid under the skin quote 476 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:32,520 Speaker 1: caused colossal gangreen. 477 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:33,640 Speaker 2: Wow. 478 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:37,720 Speaker 1: Yes, so that's that's essentially when the tissues die. 479 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:40,240 Speaker 2: How many people did they inject this in before they 480 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:43,160 Speaker 2: decided maybe this isn't a go to treatment. 481 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:45,040 Speaker 1: I don't think it was a lot. I hope it 482 00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:49,480 Speaker 1: wasn't a lot, but it was some. So that's not great. 483 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:53,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, because gangreen does not seem like a fun 484 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:53,800 Speaker 2: thing to have. 485 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:58,840 Speaker 1: On top of cholera, right right, yeah, right, yeah, So okay, 486 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:02,280 Speaker 1: that there's a idea. All right, So the last bad 487 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:04,920 Speaker 1: idea before we get to the good ideas. The last 488 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:11,520 Speaker 1: bad idea is what was called tero lysis or no enteroclysis, 489 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,439 Speaker 1: And the idea here is that maybe it would be 490 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:19,240 Speaker 1: helpful if you rinsed off the intestines from the inside 491 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,880 Speaker 1: with a chemical. And so they took a long tube 492 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:26,560 Speaker 1: that was connected to a bag with a solution of tannins, 493 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:29,440 Speaker 1: which are like some chemicals that plants make, and they 494 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:33,160 Speaker 1: inserted the tube up the rear end as far as 495 00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:35,480 Speaker 1: it would go, and then they squeezed the bag to 496 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:37,639 Speaker 1: try to rinse the inside of the intestines off with 497 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:41,000 Speaker 1: these chemicals to try to essentially dislodge the bacteria and 498 00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:42,080 Speaker 1: sort of kill them. 499 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:44,800 Speaker 2: So this is a tannin anema. Basically, this is. 500 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:48,520 Speaker 1: A tannin anima. I guess I'm going to admit now 501 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:52,720 Speaker 1: that I am not super familiar with how enemas are conducted. 502 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:56,919 Speaker 1: I am not aware of them being attached to like 503 00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:59,720 Speaker 1: a hose. I thought it was more of I won't 504 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:02,080 Speaker 1: go into too much detail anyway, this sound I don't. 505 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:05,160 Speaker 2: Think it's that complicated, Kelly. I think you're maintaining an 506 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:07,040 Speaker 2: ignorance untentionally. 507 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:10,000 Speaker 1: I thought it was just just stuck a like pouch 508 00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:13,480 Speaker 1: up there and then that's done. Isn't that? Isn't that 509 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:15,840 Speaker 1: the end? There's no like tube and you won't rinse 510 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:19,840 Speaker 1: the inside. That's enemas. Aren't that complicated? Are they? Have? 511 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:23,760 Speaker 2: You have I answer your questions? Never? 512 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:24,000 Speaker 3: Fine? 513 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,600 Speaker 1: Never fine? Okay? Point is point is they used to 514 00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:32,200 Speaker 1: rinse out people's intestines while they were suffering from uh cholera. 515 00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 2: Why tannins though, Like I understand, the idea is to 516 00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:39,440 Speaker 2: rinse it out, maybe do something to reduce the bacteria. 517 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:41,600 Speaker 2: But they have a theory that tannins we're going to 518 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 2: impact the bacteria. 519 00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:48,760 Speaker 1: So I have recently started keeping this amazing to me 520 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 1: timeline of medical advances, and it wasn't until nineteen twenty 521 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:59,080 Speaker 1: eight that Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin. Yeah, and so this 522 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:02,359 Speaker 1: is around eighteen ninety three, and so we didn't really 523 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:06,280 Speaker 1: have antibiotics at that point, and so I don't know, 524 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:08,520 Speaker 1: I'm guessing tannin's were just they were like, I don't know, 525 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:12,000 Speaker 1: those things like kill stuff, and they're just kind of 526 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,320 Speaker 1: they seem like the kind of thing that might make 527 00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:17,879 Speaker 1: an intestine inhospitable. So I'm not really sure what the 528 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:19,120 Speaker 1: thinking was for tannins. 529 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:22,359 Speaker 2: I mean, because if they're just guessing, you think maybe 530 00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:24,320 Speaker 2: they would try a few things. They're like, oh, let's 531 00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:26,720 Speaker 2: put in some cayenne pepper or something. 532 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:28,679 Speaker 1: There was more than one thing that they were trying. 533 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:34,840 Speaker 1: Tannic acid is those are tannins, right, tannic acid dear, 534 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:37,840 Speaker 1: Neither one of us know they were putting stuff in 535 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:41,600 Speaker 1: people's intestines, raising it out. So anyway, bad answer? 536 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:43,560 Speaker 2: Did that make things worse or have no effect? 537 00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:47,600 Speaker 1: So Barthelow, the author of this book, seemed pretty convinced 538 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:50,200 Speaker 1: that this was a good method. But here's the thing. 539 00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:53,880 Speaker 1: If you are dying from cholera, you probably don't want 540 00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:56,720 Speaker 1: to sit through this procedure, especially when it turns out 541 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:04,600 Speaker 1: that what works is very simple. It is rehydration. And 542 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:09,399 Speaker 1: Bartholow notes that there's this guy named Latta who in 543 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:12,920 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty one was saying, hey, y'all, if you just 544 00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:17,520 Speaker 1: use this intravenous infusion of fluids that have some like 545 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:22,440 Speaker 1: electrolytes in them, they seem to survive. And Bartholow is like, yeah, okay, 546 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:25,400 Speaker 1: So if you give them a bunch of fluids intravenously 547 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:27,359 Speaker 1: or you just make them drink it, if they're able to, 548 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:30,520 Speaker 1: they perk up and they seem like they're in such 549 00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:32,840 Speaker 1: a good mood. But it's temporary because then they get 550 00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:34,920 Speaker 1: diarrhea and they throw up, and then they don't feel 551 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,159 Speaker 1: good again, and it just kind of feels like you 552 00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:39,600 Speaker 1: have to keep doing this over and over again, and 553 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:45,160 Speaker 1: that's frustrating, and so they abandoned this technique until like 554 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:48,280 Speaker 1: nineteen fifteen when this new physic, when this physician named 555 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:51,840 Speaker 1: Rogers is like, hey, y'all, actually this rehydration thing, like 556 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:55,600 Speaker 1: this is the thing that works. All of those fluids 557 00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:58,080 Speaker 1: that they're losing, you just need to put them back. 558 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,520 Speaker 1: And then everybody's okay, and Daniel, you have a story 559 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:02,440 Speaker 1: about this, right. 560 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:07,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, key to this rehydration technique is getting the like 561 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:11,080 Speaker 2: salt and sugar balance of the rehydration correct, so the 562 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:14,080 Speaker 2: things are actually absorbed and you don't end up like 563 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:18,280 Speaker 2: stealing more fluids. And what works best is a particular 564 00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:21,239 Speaker 2: mix not just like salty water. We're also having some 565 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:24,960 Speaker 2: sugar in there. And a guy I know here, Jonas Schultz, 566 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:28,000 Speaker 2: who's a particle physicist, his brother Stanley Schultz, is the 567 00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:31,280 Speaker 2: guy who figured out like exactly the right balance of 568 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:34,120 Speaker 2: salt and sugar and the chemistry for why that works. 569 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,920 Speaker 2: And so now we understand exactly like how to sweeten 570 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:40,800 Speaker 2: and salty that water so that when you rehydrate people 571 00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:43,720 Speaker 2: they absorb and keep as much of that water as possible. 572 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:48,840 Speaker 1: That's amazing and so like. Whereas previously cholera was pretty 573 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:53,440 Speaker 1: darn fatal, these days, if you use the appropriate rehydration technique, 574 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:56,920 Speaker 1: we expect that you only lose about one percent of 575 00:29:56,960 --> 00:30:01,440 Speaker 1: patients who come in with cholera. You lose, of course, 576 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:04,720 Speaker 1: ideally you lose no one, but the one percent that 577 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,600 Speaker 1: you lose tend to be people who had some other 578 00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:10,440 Speaker 1: issues going on and the cholera just sort of was 579 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:12,800 Speaker 1: more than their body could take. But for most people, 580 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:14,400 Speaker 1: if you can get the fluids back, they survive. 581 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:16,920 Speaker 2: So that's why I asked earlier, like what is it 582 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:19,160 Speaker 2: that kills you? And if it's just really the loss 583 00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:22,560 Speaker 2: of fluids, then yeah, it seems very straightforward to say, well, 584 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:24,960 Speaker 2: let's just prevent you from losing those fluids or replace 585 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:28,120 Speaker 2: them as they exit. But then the other question, of course, 586 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:29,680 Speaker 2: is like how long do you have to do this for? 587 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:34,280 Speaker 2: Does the body eventually kill the bacteria without any external assistance, 588 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:36,720 Speaker 2: without penicillin, if you can just sort of survive long 589 00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:37,600 Speaker 2: enough for it to do that. 590 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:39,960 Speaker 1: Yes, that is the case. Every once in a while 591 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,240 Speaker 1: they will give people antibiotics to try to speed the 592 00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:44,640 Speaker 1: process up, but in a lot of cases they don't 593 00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:47,520 Speaker 1: even give people antibiotics, and eventually your body clears it 594 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:50,000 Speaker 1: out and you will be fine. 595 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:53,040 Speaker 2: And that's fascinating because then everybody gets what they want, right, 596 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,440 Speaker 2: Like the cholera still got to do their thing and 597 00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:58,480 Speaker 2: make more cholera and exit your body in twenty liters 598 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:00,680 Speaker 2: of discusting fluid. Do you survive? 599 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:03,239 Speaker 1: Yeah? I don't think the World Health Organization is like 600 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:06,720 Speaker 1: making their recommendations based on trying to make everyone happy, 601 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:09,560 Speaker 1: including the one trillion cholera that we're produced by an infection, 602 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:12,760 Speaker 1: and I don't think the cholera are happy if they 603 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:15,959 Speaker 1: end up in like a modern sanitation system. But yeah, so, 604 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:18,959 Speaker 1: I mean, the World Health Organization says you need water, 605 00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:23,200 Speaker 1: sanitation and hygiene. The acronym there is wash with the 606 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:27,320 Speaker 1: water providing the W and the A loving it. And 607 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:29,520 Speaker 1: you know, if you have these things, you can usually 608 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:32,640 Speaker 1: keep cholera out of your population. And then with this 609 00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 1: oral rehydration solution, you can treat anyone who does happen 610 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:36,880 Speaker 1: to get cholera. 611 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:39,280 Speaker 2: And so these days, if you have any get cholera, 612 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:41,960 Speaker 2: it's still the go to treatment is basically just an 613 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:43,000 Speaker 2: infusion of fluids. 614 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:47,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, an infusion of fluids. Sometimes you'll get antibiotics, but yes, 615 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:50,680 Speaker 1: just trying to replace those fluids is what happens. 616 00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:53,000 Speaker 2: But it has to be quick, right because color can 617 00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:54,440 Speaker 2: kill you in like twelve hours. 618 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:57,440 Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, yeah, you want to get to a hospital immediately. 619 00:31:58,680 --> 00:31:58,880 Speaker 3: Yeah. 620 00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:02,920 Speaker 2: It's amazing sing when like minutes or hours matter for 621 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:05,080 Speaker 2: outcomes in these medical decisions. 622 00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:06,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, scary, it is. 623 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:08,640 Speaker 2: All right, let's take a break and when we come back, 624 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 2: we'll learn about how we're going to prevent people from 625 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:33,960 Speaker 2: getting cholera in the first place. All right, we're back, 626 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:36,000 Speaker 2: and now we're going to talk about something which is 627 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:39,480 Speaker 2: unfortunately controversial these days vaccines. 628 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:45,360 Speaker 1: Yes, yes, unfortunately controversial and also in this case a 629 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:47,640 Speaker 1: little bit hard to study. So it turns out that 630 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:51,520 Speaker 1: cholera is one of those diseases that acts differently in 631 00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:54,680 Speaker 1: humans than it does in a lot of animals. So 632 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:57,800 Speaker 1: it's been hard to have animal models because, for example, 633 00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:02,240 Speaker 1: if you give cholera to an animal like a rabbit, 634 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:07,920 Speaker 1: they don't produce the massive quantities of diarrhea that humans produce. 635 00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:10,840 Speaker 1: And so if you are testing out a vaccine on 636 00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:14,760 Speaker 1: a rabbit, for example, you don't necessarily get the information 637 00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:17,560 Speaker 1: that you want from studying a rabbit that you would 638 00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:20,560 Speaker 1: get from studying a human, for example, because it's just 639 00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:21,400 Speaker 1: not doing the same thing. 640 00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:23,160 Speaker 2: To rabbits, even proportionally. 641 00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:25,000 Speaker 1: Even proportionally, that's right. 642 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:27,040 Speaker 2: And do we understand what's going on in the rabbit 643 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:29,160 Speaker 2: small intestine that makes it respond differently. 644 00:33:29,840 --> 00:33:33,600 Speaker 1: We've done some research to understand a bit about why 645 00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:36,120 Speaker 1: it differs in rabbits versus why it differs in humans. 646 00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:38,480 Speaker 1: To be honest, I didn't dig into that part too much, 647 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,080 Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, rabbits don't tell 648 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:44,040 Speaker 1: us everything we need. We've learned some great stuff from 649 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:47,280 Speaker 1: rodents that's been super helpful, but not everything we need 650 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:50,640 Speaker 1: will be able to come from rabbits. And another thing 651 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:54,360 Speaker 1: that's difficult, so we had talked about in the prior 652 00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:57,760 Speaker 1: segment the fact that vibrio cholera has a lot of 653 00:33:57,760 --> 00:34:03,160 Speaker 1: different strains that act differently, the strains that cause pandemics. 654 00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:05,560 Speaker 1: There is a lot of them. So you know how 655 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:08,560 Speaker 1: every season you go and you get the flu vaccine 656 00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:11,560 Speaker 1: because there's a different strain of the flu that's going around. 657 00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:16,040 Speaker 1: Cholera isn't really that different. It doesn't have a different 658 00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:19,880 Speaker 1: strain every year, but there are something like five or 659 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:22,680 Speaker 1: six different pandemic strains, and you do need to keep 660 00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:24,560 Speaker 1: an eye on it over time, because every once in 661 00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:27,719 Speaker 1: a while, a new pandemic strain will sort of pop up, 662 00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:30,759 Speaker 1: and now you need to worry about trying to include 663 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:34,960 Speaker 1: that strain in the vaccines. And if you're vaccinated against, 664 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:38,280 Speaker 1: you know, one of the six strains that might protect 665 00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:41,279 Speaker 1: you against a subset of the other strains, but not 666 00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:44,040 Speaker 1: all of them. And so when you're creating a vaccine, 667 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:46,799 Speaker 1: you need to have multiple strains in there. And this 668 00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:49,640 Speaker 1: isn't totally foreign. Like when I went to go get 669 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:51,440 Speaker 1: the flu shot this year, I think there were three 670 00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:55,400 Speaker 1: different flu strains in that flu shot to protect me against, 671 00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:57,839 Speaker 1: you know, the most likely strains that I'll encounter this year. 672 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:01,319 Speaker 1: And so we do do a of different strains in 673 00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:05,440 Speaker 1: the cholera vaccines, and interestingly that we also try to 674 00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:11,040 Speaker 1: include subunits of the toxin that cholera produces because our 675 00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:15,120 Speaker 1: body also produces like antibodies to stop the toxin from 676 00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:17,359 Speaker 1: binding to our intestines. 677 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:21,280 Speaker 2: Wow, fascinating, And so how do we go about making 678 00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:24,680 Speaker 2: this vaccine? Like do we inject it in humans and 679 00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:28,279 Speaker 2: look at the antibodies and then use those antibodies somehow? 680 00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:31,879 Speaker 2: Is it just those antibodies? How does this vaccine work? 681 00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:36,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, So the way that we test these vaccines is 682 00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:39,160 Speaker 1: different than the way we test a lot of other vaccines. 683 00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:41,640 Speaker 1: So I think that the way that I most often 684 00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:45,359 Speaker 1: think of how we test vaccines is that we give 685 00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:48,719 Speaker 1: the vaccine to a large population of volunteers, and then 686 00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:52,120 Speaker 1: we track those volunteers as they go about their lives, 687 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:54,880 Speaker 1: and then after like three or four months or some 688 00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:57,000 Speaker 1: maybe half a year or something some amount of time, 689 00:35:57,440 --> 00:35:59,880 Speaker 1: we ask them to report back and say, you know, 690 00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:03,680 Speaker 1: for example, you got the COVID vaccine six months later, 691 00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:05,920 Speaker 1: can you let us know did you get COVID or not? 692 00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:08,120 Speaker 1: And then we look and we say, okay, for the 693 00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:12,280 Speaker 1: people who got the placebo, what percent of them got COVID? 694 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,480 Speaker 1: And the people who got the actual COVID vaccine, what 695 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:18,240 Speaker 1: percent of them got COVID? And you hope the percent 696 00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:20,760 Speaker 1: that got the actual vaccine is lower than the percent 697 00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:23,680 Speaker 1: that got the place ebo, which is, you know, maybe 698 00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:26,120 Speaker 1: like a solution of saline and not actually the vaccine. 699 00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:31,360 Speaker 1: What we do with something like cholera often is we 700 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:33,120 Speaker 1: we know that cholera is the kind of thing where 701 00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:36,120 Speaker 1: if you have somebody in a medical setting and they 702 00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:40,440 Speaker 1: are healthy to begin with, if you treat them, you 703 00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:43,839 Speaker 1: can make sure that they will survive, and so you 704 00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:48,879 Speaker 1: can do a much faster trial if you essentially give 705 00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:53,279 Speaker 1: people the vaccine, give some people a placebo, you know, 706 00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:57,319 Speaker 1: like a solution of saline, and then you give everybody 707 00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:02,640 Speaker 1: a hundred million cholera bacteria, because then you can control 708 00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:06,960 Speaker 1: how strong of a dose everybody's getting and what strains 709 00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:10,359 Speaker 1: of cholera they're being exposed to, and so that tends 710 00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:12,359 Speaker 1: to be what we do. And so what what we'll 711 00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:15,840 Speaker 1: do is we'll try to pick strains of cholera that 712 00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:19,120 Speaker 1: we think are the most likely to be a problem 713 00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:22,680 Speaker 1: in a particular region at a particular time. We will 714 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:25,479 Speaker 1: kill them. So usually what we're doing is like oral 715 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:30,200 Speaker 1: vaccines of killed cholera cells, and then we will set 716 00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:33,799 Speaker 1: up a facility where people will volunteer. First, we'll do 717 00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:36,560 Speaker 1: tests to make sure that everybody's healthy, and then they 718 00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:39,480 Speaker 1: will either get the vaccine or a placebo, and then 719 00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:41,759 Speaker 1: they'll get exposed to the kind of cholera that we 720 00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:44,480 Speaker 1: think they're going to encounter. You know, in the areas 721 00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:47,239 Speaker 1: that we're worried about, are these prisoners, Uh No, I don't. 722 00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:50,719 Speaker 1: I haven't seen. The prisoner experiment was from the seventies. 723 00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:56,120 Speaker 1: I think these days they're probably you know, college kids 724 00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:58,279 Speaker 1: who are who are volunteering. 725 00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:00,960 Speaker 2: We'd need a few hundred bucks and have a day 726 00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:05,319 Speaker 2: to spend over the toilet. But I'm wondering you're saying 727 00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:08,160 Speaker 2: we do this for cholera because we're confident that anybody 728 00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:10,719 Speaker 2: who gets it they will recover, And so it's not 729 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:13,520 Speaker 2: really dangerous to give people the disease, and therefore it's 730 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:17,440 Speaker 2: a very useful way to directly study whether the vaccine 731 00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:20,280 Speaker 2: saves them or prevents the disease. So is that only 732 00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:22,880 Speaker 2: true for diseases where we're very confident that we can 733 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:24,680 Speaker 2: save people. That's why we don't do this for the flu. 734 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:27,040 Speaker 2: We don't give people the flu vaccine and then intentionally 735 00:38:27,040 --> 00:38:30,040 Speaker 2: inject them with the flu because as a higher mortality rate. 736 00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:34,200 Speaker 1: We're careful with things like respiratory illnesses. I do think 737 00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:38,520 Speaker 1: we've done some challenge trials on influenza, but on very 738 00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:42,359 Speaker 1: healthy volunteers. I'm sure that this was implied in what 739 00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:45,000 Speaker 1: you said. But like you know, we for cholera, we 740 00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:47,080 Speaker 1: only know we can save people because they are like 741 00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:51,280 Speaker 1: already in a hospital. Like you know, you wouldn't yeah, yeah, 742 00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:54,040 Speaker 1: you wouldn't test this out Like in the field where 743 00:38:54,120 --> 00:38:56,400 Speaker 1: somebody got cholera, you'd have to drive them two hours 744 00:38:56,400 --> 00:38:57,480 Speaker 1: to a hospital or something. 745 00:38:57,520 --> 00:38:59,840 Speaker 2: Call us if you feel anything, right, are already in 746 00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:00,680 Speaker 2: the Yeah, we're right. 747 00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:03,600 Speaker 1: These are under conditions that are very controlled, and you 748 00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:05,760 Speaker 1: know you could very quickly get them to safety. 749 00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:07,680 Speaker 2: But is the mortality zero? 750 00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:13,799 Speaker 1: There was one instance where somebody had a cardiac thing 751 00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:17,400 Speaker 1: happen and this was over I think thirty years of 752 00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:21,440 Speaker 1: experiments where these controlled studies challenge studies have been done, 753 00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:23,319 Speaker 1: and I'm pulling this number from my head, and that 754 00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:26,920 Speaker 1: might have been from challenge studies. So these kinds of 755 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:30,919 Speaker 1: trials are called challenge trials, and that might have been 756 00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:36,040 Speaker 1: for all challenge trials, including studies that weren't just cholera, 757 00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:38,759 Speaker 1: because this has been done on other diseases too. So 758 00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:44,320 Speaker 1: this technique has very high success because folks are really 759 00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:48,080 Speaker 1: cautious when they do it, But we have still had 760 00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:51,520 Speaker 1: quite a bit of difficulty when we go to use 761 00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:55,040 Speaker 1: colera vaccines in the field. So just because you have 762 00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:59,160 Speaker 1: tested a colera vaccine I don't know, for example, in London, 763 00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:02,799 Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily mean that when you go to use the 764 00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:06,680 Speaker 1: color vaccine in children in India, you know, in an 765 00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:10,680 Speaker 1: area where cholera pops up quite a bit, it doesn't 766 00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:12,879 Speaker 1: mean that immune systems are going to do the same thing. 767 00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:16,200 Speaker 1: So you know, for example, maybe if you're I don't know, 768 00:40:16,239 --> 00:40:20,360 Speaker 1: a teenager in India, you have encountered the cholera bacteria 769 00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:23,680 Speaker 1: before and so your immune system might respond differently whereas 770 00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:26,600 Speaker 1: like a college kid in London has probably never encountered 771 00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:30,680 Speaker 1: the color of bacteria before. Additionally, they have different microbiomes 772 00:40:30,680 --> 00:40:33,919 Speaker 1: and I've seen papers indicate that that could matter. And 773 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:39,080 Speaker 1: kids in India probably have some different intestinal parasites than 774 00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:42,680 Speaker 1: kids in London and that could impact how bodies respond 775 00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:46,360 Speaker 1: to things like vaccines. And so we're finding that sometimes 776 00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:50,440 Speaker 1: in challenge trials, what you see doesn't always match what 777 00:40:50,480 --> 00:40:53,200 Speaker 1: you see in the field when you're giving it to 778 00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:57,040 Speaker 1: two communities. So challenge trials still seem useful, but we 779 00:40:57,120 --> 00:40:59,120 Speaker 1: don't always see exactly what we expect. 780 00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:02,080 Speaker 2: And who takes this vaccine. Is it only for people 781 00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:05,600 Speaker 2: who are living in cholera endemic regions and people traveling 782 00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:09,400 Speaker 2: there or is everybody get it? Have I been vaccinated 783 00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:10,040 Speaker 2: against cholera? 784 00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:13,120 Speaker 1: Well, it depends have you traveled to an area where 785 00:41:13,200 --> 00:41:14,160 Speaker 1: cholera is endemic? 786 00:41:14,239 --> 00:41:15,640 Speaker 2: I don't think so. I've ever been to India. 787 00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:19,160 Speaker 1: Well, you know, it's also in South America and Africa. 788 00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:21,200 Speaker 2: I've been to South America and I definitely got some 789 00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:22,120 Speaker 2: vaccines for that. 790 00:41:22,239 --> 00:41:26,600 Speaker 1: So maybe maybe I've gotten the yellow fever vaccine before, 791 00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:29,359 Speaker 1: but I think but I don't think I've ever gotten 792 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:31,879 Speaker 1: the color of vaccine. Most people have probably haven't gotten 793 00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:33,920 Speaker 1: the color of vaccine. If you traveled to an area 794 00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:37,400 Speaker 1: where cholera is endemic, you might have gotten the vaccine, 795 00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:41,720 Speaker 1: and challenge trials were used to develop the traveler's version 796 00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:44,520 Speaker 1: of the colera vaccine. And if you live in an 797 00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:48,040 Speaker 1: area where cholera is common, you and your kids may 798 00:41:48,040 --> 00:41:50,560 Speaker 1: have had the color of vaccine. And actually, if any 799 00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:52,440 Speaker 1: of our listeners want to write in and let us 800 00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:54,080 Speaker 1: know if they got the color of vaccine, I'd be 801 00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:57,040 Speaker 1: interested in hearing about that. But you need to get 802 00:41:57,040 --> 00:41:59,920 Speaker 1: the color of vaccine pretty often. So even if you 803 00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:05,000 Speaker 1: get cholera in real life, the immunity that your body 804 00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:09,480 Speaker 1: provides doesn't last for a lifetime. Like if you get 805 00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:13,120 Speaker 1: cholera and it's like a mild case, your immunity might 806 00:42:13,200 --> 00:42:15,279 Speaker 1: last for like three years. I've read one source that 807 00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:17,319 Speaker 1: said a really bad case of cholera can give you 808 00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:20,600 Speaker 1: immunity for ten years. But after that, your immune system 809 00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:23,759 Speaker 1: kind of forgets what colera looks like, which seems like 810 00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:27,839 Speaker 1: a bad plan. And so you need to get immunized regularly. 811 00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:31,439 Speaker 1: And if your immune system only remembers an actual case 812 00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:34,080 Speaker 1: of cholera for three to ten years. Probably that's the 813 00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:36,319 Speaker 1: best we can do with a vaccine, which means you 814 00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:38,920 Speaker 1: need to get vaccinated regularly, which is hard because a 815 00:42:38,920 --> 00:42:41,640 Speaker 1: lot of areas where cholera is endemic are areas where 816 00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:44,800 Speaker 1: you don't have good sanitation, and those are also areas 817 00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:47,080 Speaker 1: where it's probably hard to get vaccines, especially if for 818 00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:49,560 Speaker 1: the vaccines need to be refrigerated, and so there are 819 00:42:49,600 --> 00:42:52,239 Speaker 1: areas where it's hard to get vaccines to people regularly, 820 00:42:52,560 --> 00:42:55,680 Speaker 1: and so we don't currently have vaccines that we feel 821 00:42:55,719 --> 00:42:59,960 Speaker 1: like amazing about. Research on cholera vaccines continues because we 822 00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:03,000 Speaker 1: would like to have even better cholera vaccines. 823 00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:06,840 Speaker 2: And is there a campaign to eradicate cholera like we 824 00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:10,080 Speaker 2: did for smallpox or is that impossible because cholera is 825 00:43:10,160 --> 00:43:12,719 Speaker 2: happy to live in the environment even if we got 826 00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:13,760 Speaker 2: it out of all of the people. 827 00:43:14,360 --> 00:43:18,680 Speaker 1: I think that the goal is to reduce cholera. I 828 00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:22,279 Speaker 1: don't think it would be reasonable to try to eradicate 829 00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:27,040 Speaker 1: cholera entirely because it can live in the environments without us, 830 00:43:27,080 --> 00:43:29,560 Speaker 1: Like I just I don't see how you would how 831 00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:30,640 Speaker 1: you would do that, And. 832 00:43:30,640 --> 00:43:33,280 Speaker 2: Because it's out in the environment and there's viruses out there. 833 00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:36,920 Speaker 2: There must be constantly new versions of it, and it's mutating, 834 00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:40,440 Speaker 2: and there's gazillion's uncountable number of these things floating in 835 00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:44,320 Speaker 2: every lake, one mutation away from being the next pandemic. 836 00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:46,839 Speaker 1: Yes, right, yeah, And you know, even if we had 837 00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:50,200 Speaker 1: a perfect vaccine tomorrow, the week after that, you could 838 00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:53,799 Speaker 1: have horizontal gene transfer and you know, the genes for 839 00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:56,040 Speaker 1: the toxin could be passed to a new strain of cholera, 840 00:43:56,160 --> 00:43:59,680 Speaker 1: and that's the next pandemic. So you need constant surveillance 841 00:43:59,719 --> 00:44:01,600 Speaker 1: to try to understand this stuff, which is why it's 842 00:44:01,640 --> 00:44:05,600 Speaker 1: really important that we fund organizations like the World Health Organization, 843 00:44:06,239 --> 00:44:08,040 Speaker 1: which the United States pulled out of. 844 00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:11,400 Speaker 2: And so who does this research? I mean, doesn't sound 845 00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:15,240 Speaker 2: like there's a lot of money in cholera vaccines since 846 00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:18,719 Speaker 2: the places where color is endemic tend to be poorer countries. 847 00:44:19,120 --> 00:44:21,239 Speaker 2: You don't have a whole lot of cholera happening to 848 00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:24,760 Speaker 2: like US senators for example. And so who is funding 849 00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:25,400 Speaker 2: this research? 850 00:44:25,400 --> 00:44:28,880 Speaker 1: If anybody, cholera research is funded by you know, the 851 00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:32,239 Speaker 1: World Health Organization wants there to be cholera vaccines. There's 852 00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:36,640 Speaker 1: money from government organizations like the National Institute of Health. 853 00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:40,200 Speaker 1: There's I think there's US companies that make color of 854 00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:43,279 Speaker 1: vaccines to sell to you know, tourists in the US 855 00:44:43,320 --> 00:44:46,440 Speaker 1: who want to go and you know, there's lots of 856 00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:49,440 Speaker 1: people living in areas where color is endemics. So if 857 00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:52,200 Speaker 1: you could sell the vaccine, you know, you can probably 858 00:44:52,200 --> 00:44:53,880 Speaker 1: make some money, although you probably can't sell it for 859 00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:58,040 Speaker 1: too much. There's philanthropic organizations and government organizations funding this 860 00:44:58,120 --> 00:44:58,800 Speaker 1: kind of research. 861 00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:01,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, not everyth happens from a profit mode of y'all. 862 00:45:02,120 --> 00:45:05,800 Speaker 1: Yes, that's right. This research is super important. The seventh 863 00:45:05,880 --> 00:45:08,400 Speaker 1: cholera pandemic, as we said in the last episode, is 864 00:45:08,480 --> 00:45:12,880 Speaker 1: still happening right now. The next cholera pandemic could start 865 00:45:12,920 --> 00:45:15,879 Speaker 1: at any time. Cholera pandemics can overlap. If a new 866 00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:19,000 Speaker 1: strain pops up and starts spreading around the world, seven 867 00:45:19,040 --> 00:45:20,759 Speaker 1: and eight could be happening at the same time. 868 00:45:21,520 --> 00:45:24,880 Speaker 2: And I'm grateful that there's continued funding for research into 869 00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:29,640 Speaker 2: technological developments in advanced bidets. As I traveled around Japan, 870 00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:32,080 Speaker 2: I discovered, ooh, some of these have music. Ooh, this 871 00:45:32,120 --> 00:45:35,319 Speaker 2: one has a strong deodorizer button you can press. What 872 00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:35,840 Speaker 2: does that do? 873 00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:41,759 Speaker 1: Okay? All right? I'm grateful for good sanitation systems, and 874 00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:45,359 Speaker 1: i am grateful to organizations that are trying to bring 875 00:45:45,520 --> 00:45:49,200 Speaker 1: good sanitation systems to communities that don't have them yet, 876 00:45:49,600 --> 00:45:54,080 Speaker 1: because that you know, vaccines are great, but sanitation systems 877 00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:56,920 Speaker 1: that keep people from getting poop in their water, yes, 878 00:45:57,320 --> 00:45:59,680 Speaker 1: is probably a better long term solution. 879 00:46:00,200 --> 00:46:02,160 Speaker 2: You're so much more wholesome than i am, Kelly. 880 00:46:04,160 --> 00:46:06,560 Speaker 1: I'm glad that the day is bringing you so much joy. 881 00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:09,680 Speaker 2: Hey, it's the small pleasures in life, that's right. Anyway, 882 00:46:09,680 --> 00:46:12,080 Speaker 2: Today it's been a great pleasure learning about colera. Thank you, 883 00:46:12,200 --> 00:46:16,040 Speaker 2: Kelly for this deep dive into the experience of calera, 884 00:46:16,320 --> 00:46:18,600 Speaker 2: how we treated it, and how we continue. 885 00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:28,319 Speaker 1: To Thanks for listening. Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe is 886 00:46:28,360 --> 00:46:31,400 Speaker 1: produced by iHeartRadio. We would love to hear from you, 887 00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:32,680 Speaker 1: We really would. 888 00:46:32,840 --> 00:46:35,560 Speaker 2: We want to know what questions you have about this 889 00:46:35,760 --> 00:46:37,440 Speaker 2: Extraordinary Universe. 890 00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:40,480 Speaker 1: We want to know your thoughts on recent shows, suggestions 891 00:46:40,480 --> 00:46:43,480 Speaker 1: for future shows. If you contact us, we will get 892 00:46:43,520 --> 00:46:43,920 Speaker 1: back to you. 893 00:46:44,200 --> 00:46:47,719 Speaker 2: We really mean it. We answer every message. Email us 894 00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:50,840 Speaker 2: at Questions at Danielandkelly dot org, or. 895 00:46:50,840 --> 00:46:52,960 Speaker 1: You can find us on social media. We have accounts 896 00:46:53,040 --> 00:46:57,000 Speaker 1: on x Instagram, Blue Sky, and on all of those platforms. 897 00:46:57,040 --> 00:46:59,960 Speaker 1: You can find us at D and Kuniverse. 898 00:47:00,200 --> 00:47:01,759 Speaker 2: Don't be shy, write to us,