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Professor Vincent Racaniello, a BioCrowd co-founder, blogger and host of the increasingly popular This Week in Virology (TWIV) podcast series made an anguished plea in a recent post on his Virology Blog to help promote American science literacy. “If you are writing a book, article, toy label, or anything having to do with viruses, and you are not sure of the science, feel free to contact me for advice. I will check the facts for free, because my goal is for everyone to get the science right” said Professor Racaniello.

Vincent expressed his sentiments in a post entitled “Even Toy Makers Should Get it Right” which takes a company to task (Giant Microbes) for manufacturing  “an influenza virus toy” (yes you heard it correctly) and mistakenly presented incorrect information about the influenza virus in the toy’s promotional materials and on its label (an image of the incorrect materials is displayed in the upper left hand corner of this post) . 

While only a toy, I agree with Vincent that it is imperative that all relevant facts about an infectious agent ought to be correct to insure that lay people, many of whom will never read another thing about viruses in their lives, get scientifically correct information. That is the essence of science literacy!

I have known Vincent for over 35 years and I think he is one of the brightest and most unassuming world class scientists that I know (yeah I know a few). One of the things I like most about Vincent is that he is a stickler for detail and (for as long as I have known him), never draws a scientific conclusion unless it there is incontrovertible proof that it is the correct conclusion.  While I routinely rail against self-focused and uncaring academics, Vincent is exactly the opposite. His unwavering commitment to teaching and increasing the public awareness of viruses, and science in general, is second to none. And when he says, please feel free to contact him for help he truly means it and will do everything possible to help you find what you need. Having said that (yes, I know you hate that phrase Vincent; btw so does Larry David), if any of you aspiring young scientists out there need a role model, I highly recommend that you keep Vincent in mind. And, if you need virology help or want to chat with him you can find him on twitter @profvrr or of course, at the BioCrowd!

Until next time....

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!

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News Day reported today that Wegmans Food Markets, a grocer with 72 locations in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland is giving away “free generic antibiotics” for customers (with a prescription). Wegmans joins a growing list of supermarkets pharmacies including Giant Food and Publix that are giving free generic antibiotics to its customers.

I first learned about the “free generic antibiotic give away offers” several weeks ago after reading a post on the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Health Blog. I took the WSJ health blog to task for posting the story without editorial comment on the potentially dangerous practice of “hawking free antibiotics” to drive business at regional and nationwide grocery store pharmacies. Luckily, in today’s WSJ Health Blog post about the Wegmans program, the author (Sarah Rubenstein) did suggest that the practice may lead to unnecessary promotional  use of antibiotics.

As you all should know by now, we are in the midst of bacterial antibiotic-resistance epidemic. People are beginning to regularly die from bacterial infections that were easily treatable a decade ago. Ironically, we are slowly approaching the morbidity and mortality rates for bacterial infections that previously existed in the pre-penicillin era. Moreover, there are no new, orally bioavailable, broad spectrum antibiotics on the horizon. A lack of new antibiotics coupled with rapidly emerging resistance to extant ones is wreaking havoc on the healthcare system in both community and hospital settings.

The “free generic antibiotics” advertising and marketing programs concocted by Giant, Publix and Wegman’s are egregious examples of how a lack of or unwillingness to understand science poses a serious public health threat to all Americans. I have no doubt that the marketers who devised the give away programs have nary a clue about the relationship between antibiotic use and the emergence of antibiotic resistance strains of bacteria. Further, while physicians may be aware of increasing rates of antibiotic resistance, many are reluctant to not prescribe antibiotics to patients who request them. After all, these physicians are running a business and if they don’t write the script, the patient will take his/her business elsewhere. The potential public health implication of these free antibiotic programs begs the question: Why not give away generic ace inhibitors, generic statins or other generic medications whose profits margins are also negligible but don’t carry any public health risks?

Put simply, the promise of free generic antibiotics is a marketing strategy that is in my opinion, reckless, dangerous and may have serious public health implications in the future. Make no mistake about it, I am a capitalist but not when profits are placed before human lives.

Hat tip to the WSJ Health Blog

Until next time…

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (try antibiotic drug discovery—we need new ones)

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