Page 52 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - February 2014 Edition

What if medical science cured all? What if medical science infrastructure. If so, children would benefit first. cured all diseases? Children die at much higher rates in poor countries than in rich ones. If you live in Chad, you're about 50 times more likely to die before Medicine can prevent polio and heal stomach age 5 than if you live in Denmark [source: ulcers, but what if it could successfully nip all WHO]. The youngest ones pass on as babies diseases as soon as they showed themselves? because they're premature, weigh too little, or Preposterous, isn't it? Incurable sickness is a the mother or baby suffers stress during birth part of everyone's life. Who hasn't stayed home [source: WHO]. The rest expire mostly from with the flu? Of course, some people lose more pneumonia and diarrheal diseases [source: than office sick days to illness, like their ability WHO].If these killers never existed, women to walk, their vision or even their life or that of would need fewer pregnancies to have families a loved one. In this article, we'll consider a of the same size, which could allow them to world where every disease has a cure. spend less time pregnant or grieving. It's tough to imagine. Cures for If these sicknesses suddenly everything sounds great, but what does that disappeared, there'd be more babies and mean? First, it doesn't equate to prevention. For children running around the developing world, example, to protect yourself from getting HIV, at least at first. To explore what a lower death you could, among other things, abstain from pretty bad -- that is, until we consider modern rate would do for low-income countries in the having sex and from sharing needles or have incurable diseases. Children with cerebral palsy long term, see our article on a world without protected sex. Second, cures differ from or muscular dystrophy could choose a different illness. treatments: HIV therapies can reduce the life, if they wanted. AIDS patients could swap a Put away your malaria pills and suit up amount of virus in the body or help the recipient succession of hospital visits and expensive for a futuristic voyage of the HMS Beagle. We'll physically cope with a weakened immune drugs for an immediate, sweeping fix. now predict what cures could mean for human system. For our purposes, a cure for HIV would Not only would our experiment imagine evolution. mean that you could have the virus, take a pill away the big burdens, but also the little With a cure for every disease, our and then no longer have the virus in your body. annoyances, like colds, ear infections and the evolutionary future might change. To Life with unlimited medical fixes … flu. Since all of these ailments are viral, today's understand why, we need to talk about genes. would doctors' offices be swamped by patients best efforts typically center on treating the Genes are like options on a car. Alleles, which clamoring for pills? Would people live symptoms and waiting for your body to clear are sequences of DNA, make choices for those unthinkably long? the infection [source: Fauci]. In our what-if options. Option: Sunroof. Choice: Leaky Although it's fun to ask "what if…," we world, you'd spend fewer days suffering and sunroof. Among humans, there are plenty of should balance our fantasy with some miss less work or school. alleles that are bad for us, as a leaky sunroof is skepticism. Could we ever achieve remedies for What if mental illnesses became on a car. all diseases? Not likely. Each age bracket comes curable? Sure, many mental illnesses are Some alleles are bad for us because they with its own illnesses. Even if we could extend controllable, sometimes to the point that the kill us or prevent us from having children when the human life span to 200 by preventing people who have them don't notice them, but for we're young. People who have such alleles often maladies that kill us before we reached that age, the top three mental illnesses in the United don't pass them on to their children. They die, or it wouldn't be a healthy 200, but one that came States -- anxiety disorders, depression and their disease prevents reproduction, so their with its own ailments, maybe some we've never attention deficit hyperactivity disorder -- there alleles don't become very prevalent in the seen before [source: Kennedy]. can be a period of chaos before control is population. In our hypothetical world, those Another factor to keep in mind: Wealthy achieved, and control can involve lifelong people would be cured before they were stopped and poor countries have such different common medication or worries about relapse [source: from having children, so they would pass on diseases that we'll look at the scenario Kessler]. Cures could lead to a better quality of their alleles to future generations. separately in each place. First up, a high-income life. We also suspect that by alleviating mental Other alleles cause debilitating diseases, nation where everyone's heart is healthy, even illness two institutions would lose residents: but not necessarily ones that prevent after all-you-can-eat burgers and fries. hospitals and jails [source: Harcourt]. reproduction. In the real world, couples who The top cause of death in wealthy Rich countries have a tidy system of carry alleles for these diseases might choose not countries is coronary heart disease (CHD), doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and emergency to have children. In our what-if scenario, they according to 2008 data from the World Health crews. How would it change if every disease might opt to become parents, since rather than Organization. That fact is a product of the long had a cure? If the medical system were suffering, those children could be cured. life span and lifestyle characteristic of high- interested in keeping the most people healthy, it Overall, disease-related alleles would income nations. In our hypothetical world, there might expand screening. Medical become more common. would be a cure for CHD. You could eat steak establishments tend to invest in screening when It's possible that even with a cure for subs every day, but with the help of a pill, your catching a disease early really helps the patient, every disease, little would change. People might arteries wouldn't clog. as with breast cancer. In our world of cures, not pursue them, even if they were available. Another pill would protect smokers, doctors would be trying detect all diseases early, Some people wouldn't know or would refuse to people with high blood pressure and diabetics except no country could afford to do that. So, admit that they were sick. Others would avoid from strokes, the second-largest killer in rich the public and every other interested party you doctors, for whatever beliefs keep them away countries [source: WHO]. If you assume people could imagine would fight over how much to now. Another faction would get the wrong are inherently pleasure seekers, you'd expect spend and which illnesses to include. diagnosis or the wrong cure or reject treatment them to eat whatever they wanted, exercise less We'll take all these hypothetical cures to due to expense. Lastly, cures might have side and smoke more in a world full of magical a low-income nation next. effects, leading some folks to decide that the medical bullets. As in wealthy countries, most people in side effects were intolerable and choose to live More people also might light up because poor countries die from curable illnesses, such with the disease. [] lung cancer and related cancers, the third as lung infections and diarrheal diseases leading cause of death in rich countries, would [source: WHO]. That fact suggests that low- Listen To Past Broadcasts be curable [source: WHO]. Not that smokers income nations need more than cures. They Of necessarily would live excellent lives. Many need preventions, like sanitation and health The ‘X’ Zone Radio/TV Show would be diagnosed with lung cancer, take a pill education. They also require the money to pay with Rob McConnell and then get lung cancer again. They'd have to for treatments, and the experts and clinics to cyclically solicit treatments for their smoking- distribute them. at related problems. In our imaginary world, we'll pretend www.xzonepodcast.com So far, this hypothetical world looks cures come for free and with the necessary