gantian Argument51 【Cracking AW】3.17

gantianUID: 2650936

51) 213. 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. "

提纲：
1.    study的问题
2.    study => 二次感染会阻碍康复
3.    suggestion的问题

字数:499

Grounding on the preliminary results of a study on two groups of patients, supposing that secondary infection may lead to a delay for recovery from severe muscle strain, the author accordingly suggests that the use of antibiotics is a good way to treat muscle strain. However, the conclusion may be somehow hasty and biased and may mislead people to overuse antibiotics.

First of all, the argument is weakened by the fact that it does not take into account the differences between the two groups in the study. The study does not provide any related information about the two groups of patients, such as age, sex, degree of injuries and other physical features. It is possible that the patients in the first group are younger, minor injured than the second group. In addition, Dr. Newland in the first group is a specialist in sports medicine while Dr. Alton is a general physician. If all the patients got hurt in doing sports, then Dr. Newland may be more specialized in this situation. Also, patients in the second group are given sugar pills throughout their treatment. There is no evidence that these sugar pills have no influence on the patients. It is possible that the patients suffer from an unnoticed side effect given by the sugar, so it take them more time from healing, despite the psychological effect of the so-called "antibiotics".

Even if neglecting the dissimilarities in the study, the argument remains questionable. The argument assumes that the correlation between the secondary infection and the recovery time means that it is the secondary infection interferes with patients' recovery. But the argument fails to provide sufficient evidence to support this conclusion. Though the study mentioned that the patients in the first group took antibiotics through the treatment, yet there is not any sign showing that these patients get infected, let alone secondary infection. It is possible that only some severe cases get infected, so it is incorrect to suggest all patients no matter severe injured or minor injured to use antibiotics.

Finally, the argument's suggestion to take antibiotics as part of treatment is open to question. Antibiotics like Penicillin and Erythromycin which used to be one-time miracle cures are now less effective because of the overuse of antibiotics which make the bacteria become more resistant. Almost all infections could be controlled, but finding an effective antibiotic typically requires two to three days. Therefore, it is better to consider carefully whether is there any other options to replace antibiotics before using it. Moreover, inappropriate antibiotic treatment is dangerous which may let the patient get worse rather than be cured.

All in all, the argument's conclusion to use antibiotics to treat muscle strain is arguable. The argument could be improved by providing evidence that the correlation is indeed a causal relationship-- that the secondary infections indeed cause a longer recovery time and the patients who suffer from it can be cured by antibiotics. Furthermore, the author must provide the possible consequences of using antibiotics.