argument51 肌肉拉伤使用antibiotics, 有拍必回~!

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51.The following appeared in a medical newsletter.

"Doctors have long suspected that secondary infections may keep some patients from healing quickly after severe muscle strain. This hypothesis has now been proved by preliminary results of a study of two groups of patients. The first group of patients, all being treated for muscle injuries by Dr. Newland, a doctor who specializes in sports medicine, took antibiotics regularly throughout their treatment. Their recuperation time was, on average, 40 percent quicker than typically expected. Patients in the second group, all being treated by Dr. Alton, a general physician, were given sugar pills, although the patients believed they were taking antibiotics. Their average recuperation time was not significantly reduced. Therefore, all patients who are diagnosed with muscle strain would be well advised to take antibiotics as part of their treatment."

医生长期以来怀疑严重肌肉扭伤后的二次感染妨碍了一些患者迅速康复。这一假说现在被一项对两组患者的研究的初步结果所证实。第一组患者全部由专攻运动医学的Dr. Newland治疗肌肉损伤，他们在疗程中经常服用抗生素。他们的康复期平均比通常预期的快40％。第二组患者由综合医师Dr. Alton治疗，他们被给予糖丸，而患者相信他们在服用抗生素。他们的平均康复时间没有明显缩短。因此，任何被确诊为肌肉损伤的患者应被建议服用抗生素作为辅助治疗。


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提纲：

1.没有提供任何资料证明二次感染会发生在肌肉拉伤的病人身上，或是这种病人容易发生二次感染。

2.实验的问题
A.没有提供任何有关两组病人的资料。
B.两位医生的经验和水平也会影响病人康复的速度
C.不服抗生素的一组食用了糖片，而论者没有给出资料证明这种糖片不会影响病人的康复。



In this newsletter, the author suggests that all patients diagnosed with muscles strain should take antibiotics during their treatment, which comes from his assumption that the hypothesis that secondary infections may keep patients from healing quickly after severe muscle strain, has recently been proved right. To support his assumption, the author cites a study of two groups of patients. Careful scrutiny of the cited experiment on how antibiotics can influent the speed of recovery from muscle strain, however, reveals that it lend no credible support to the recommendation.

The major problem with this argument is that the author recommends all patients suffering from muscle strain to take antibiotics based on an erroneous assumption that all patients will be confronted with a secondary infection which may slow down their recovery. There is no evidence show in the newsletter that all patients who are diagnosed with muscle strain will suffer from secondary infection. It is entirely possible that patients who diagnosed muscle strain may not have any wound in their skin; hence most of them won’t have trouble with secondary infections. Or perhaps only those who have a sever muscle strain will suffer from secondary infections. Thus the author’s suggestion that all the muscle strain patients should take antibiotics to guard them from secondary is dubious.

Another point worth considering is that the control experiment the author cites to support the opinion that taking antibiotics will help patients to shorten their recuperation time do not carry much conviction. Firstly, the speaker omits to inform us about the test subjects’ conditions, such as their age, ponderance of their injury and physical conditions, just prior to the experiment. It is possible that patients in the first group who take antibiotics are younger and more vigorous while the patients in the second group are initially weaker and suffer from a more serious injury. Any of these scenarios, if true, would cast considerable doubt that antibiotics have positive effect on recuperation time. Secondly, the differences between the doctors of the two groups may lead the experiment to a wrong result. The first group in which patient seem recover 40% quicker is under the charge of Dr. Newland specializing in sports medicines, while Dr. Alton, a general physician, is responsible for the other group of patients whose recuperation time was not significantly reduced. Since a doctor specialize in sports medicine may have more experience on treating patients with muscle strain than a general physician, it is of great possibility that the shorter recuperation time of the first group of patients is on the account of their specialized doctor not the antibiotics they take. Finally, the author fails to figure out that whether the sugar pills have a side effect on recovery time of patient suffering from muscle strain, which may results in the outcome of the second group that the patients’ recuperation time did not decrease. In short, unless the experiment was conducted in a controlled environment in which factors were the same for the two groups; it is impossible to draw any firm conclusion that antibiotics will benefit the time of the recovery from muscle strain.

In conclusion, the recommendation for all patients suffering from muscle strain to take antibiotics as part of their treatment is not well supported. To be more convincing, the author must provide clear evidence that whether all patients who are diagnosed muscle strain will be faced with a secondary infection. To better assess the argument that antibiotics is beneficial in reducing recuperation time, it would be useful to know the patients’ condition of the two groups, also useful would be any information about sugar pills’ effects in recovery time.