Medicine & Science - What's Falling Through the Gap?

In a recent news release I read the Ministry of Health in Singapore is promoting dual-tracked careers in Medicine and Science. They've initiated an annual 'Clinician-Scientist Investigator Award'.  Recognizing a need for translational (interpretative) research, the award promotes career development for clinician-scientists.

In other words, the Ministry of Health in Singapore identified a gap between science and medicine and is implementing strategies to close the gap.

What gap? I may have an example.

I administer a community health website that records and shares health success stories. To supplement this information I occasionally add research results. To do so means regularly researching health news. It's very time-consuming but worthwhile from a 'bigger picture' perspective.

There's nothing particularly interesting about what I do. It's mostly laborious and can be boring, but I'm driven to pan for those gems of information that make it all worthwhile.

Like most, I mentally link the news I read with past information I've read.  I analyse the news to determine both it's significance and relevance to my website readers.  I have no desire to bog my readers down by loading the website database with repetitive information.

For the most part, the process of mentally linking news items results in 'general observations', but on one particular day back in 2004 it resulted in an 'Aha!' moment.

I had just finished reading the results of a Meningitis study linking two higher risk groups - pre-schoolers and college students. The study suggested links between these two groups and in particular; the tendency to share closed spaces and personal items. I have three children of mixed ages. It's my experience that children of all ages share closed spaces and personal items. For me this particular link didn't make sense, but if it didn't make sense what was a more likely link?

I pondered this for a while and what evolved was a 'Meningococcal Septicaemia' theory.

Now consider this. I am not a doctor. I am a community health researcher; a layperson with no medical, scientific or associated qualifications; who's developed a theory on Meningococcal Septicaemia. Where could a person such as myself take such information? Worse, how could a person such as myself presume to offer such a theory to those who are qualified to work in the fields of medicine and science (without coming across like a crackpot).

I relayed the theory to my daughter's orthodontist. He joked we should write a paper together but on a subsequent visit appeared not to even recall our conversation.

I tentatively contacted a couple of Meningitis Foundations and a researcher. The researcher listened politely but gave the impression of being disinterested. I pressed on. They said they might talk to a paediatrician but I suspected the words were used as an escape. By now I was feeling quite foolish.

Fortunately, feeling foolish is more of a pastime than an obstacle for me so I decided to let some time pass and reconsider my options. Quite some time did pass, then recently I penned a story based on my theory and distributed it as a press release in the hope it would gain the attention of researchers.  The story wasn't picked up. I guess they saw my theory as not credible, not newsworthy, too poorly written or a combination of all three.

I then came across new research linking bacteria with premature births.  Surely this new research would add weight to my theory and make it more newsworthy? Unfortunately, no.

Thankfully the web provides other avenues for publishing and to-date I've taken advantage of most. I've emailed my theory in various formats to over 500 online news sources, online publishers, associated foundations, associated researchers, government departments, and peak health bodies. To-date I have not received one response.

By now you may be wondering exactly what my theory is.

The Neisseria Meningitidis bacteria can be hosted without incidence yet can also cause life threatening disease; Meningococcal Meningitis and Meningococcal Septicaemia.

How the bacteria pass from one person to another is not puzzling. What is puzzling is how the bacteria gain access to the bloodstream.

My theory is simple. I reasoned that toddlers, pre-schoolers, and college students have something else in common, that is; opportunities for oral bacteria to access the bloodstream via the gums.

1) Babies & toddlers:
a) Babies have immature immune systems.

b) The group is too immature to personally manage oral hygiene and is dependent on the actions of parents/carers.
c) Teething problems. As a mother I know babies often experience other health problems when they're teething.  It's possible natural immune defences are lowered to enable teeth to erupt and break through the gum. If oral bacteria are present, this may provide opportunity for bacteria to gain direct access to the bloodstream.

2) College students:
a) College students adopt body piercing.
b) College students may suffer lowered immune defences/immunity due to steroid or recreational drug use.

c) College students may have poor oral hygiene practices (as a result of greater freedom from parental supervision).
d) College students play sport. Teeth and gums can be injured. College students may also get wisdom teeth. If oral bacteria are present, this may provide opportunity for bacteria to gain direct access to the bloodstream.

There are probably many more links between these groups but aren't these links worth considering?

Just as research has linked bacteria to heart disease and premature birth; additional research could reveal links between specific bacteria and specific diseases.  Whilst the gap between science and medicine remains open we don't know what's being missed.

This Meningococcal theory may be totally off the mark, but what if it's not?

What if it's possible this theory is representative of what's being lost in the gap that exists between science and medicine, and if that's possible, what else has been missed?