Treatment of Tourette syndrome
Tourette syndrome (also Tourette's syndrome or TS) is an inherited neuropsychiatric disorder with onset in childhood, characterized by the presence of motor and phonic tics. Treatment of Tourette syndrome has the goal of managing symptoms to achieve optimum functioning, rather than eliminating symptoms; not all persons with Tourette's require treatment, and there is no cure or universally effective medication. Explanation and reassurance alone are often sufficient treatment; education is an important part of any treatment plan.
Steffanie A. Strathdee
In 2016, Strathdee enlisted the help of an international team of physicians and researchers to save her husband’s life with bacteriophage (phage) therapy after he acquired a life-threatening infection with a ‘superbug ’, Acinetobacter baumannii. Although phage therapy had been used for one hundred years in Eastern Europe, it was not licensed for clinical use in the United States or most of Western Europe. Her husband, Dr. Tom Patterson, appears to be the first person in the U.S. to be successfully cured from a systemic multi-drug-resistant bacterial infection with cocktails of intravenous bacteriophages. After the case was published, it received considerable attention in top medical journals including JAMA and Lancet, as well as numerous reports in the international press (see below) and a TEDx talk. "The Guardian" listed this case as one of the top science stories of 2017. Since her husband’s release from hospital in 2016, Strathdee and her physician friend, Chip Schooley, who was responsible for treating her husband, have been actively involved in helping other patients receive phage therapy and are hoping to launch an institute for phage therapy at UCSD where rigorous studies are needed to determine if it is efficacious to enable its licensure and widespread use. Dr. Patterson made a full recovery and returned to work in April 2017. Strathdee and her husband are writing a book about their story called "The Perfect Predator: An Epidemiologist’s Journey to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug", which will be published by Hachette Book Group, in spring 2019.In 2016, Strathdee enlisted the help of an international team of physicians and researchers to save her husband’s life with bacteriophage (phage) therapy after he acquired a life-threatening infection with a ‘superbug’, Acinetobacter baumannii. Although phage therapy had been used for one hundred years in Eastern Europe, it was not licensed for clinical use in the United States or most of Western Europe. Her husband, Dr. Tom Patterson, appears to be the first person in the U.S. to be successfully cured from a systemic multi-drug resistant bacterial infection with cocktails of intravenous bacteriophages. After the case was published, it received considerable attention in top medical journals including JAMA and Lancet, as well as numerous reports in the international press (see below) and a TEDx talk. The Guardian listed this case as one of the top science stories of 2017. Since her husband’s release from hospital in 2016, Strathdee and her physician friend, Chip Schooley, who was responsible for treating her husband, have been actively involved in helping other patients receive phage therapy and are hoping to launch an institute for phage therapy at UCSD where rigorous studies are needed to determine if it is efficacious to enable its licensure and widespread use. Patterson made a full recovery and returned to work in April 2017. Strathdee and her husband are writing a book about their story called The Perfect Predator: An Epidemiologist’s Journey to Save Her Husband from a Deadly Superbug, which will be published by Hachette Book Group, in Spring 2019.