A Chicken or The Egg Story

Chicken or the egg ? Diseases or the genes ? These are literally the same questions. Do diseases exist because defective genes are present ? Or our genes go bad because we catch diseases ?

The theory of genetic diagnosis and treatment turns the practice of Western medicine inside out- up side down. Instead of starting with disease and searching for its origin, genomics approaches begins with a detectable genetic variation and relies on treatments that manipulate it, often before the gene can express itself in terms of illness. The approach changes the nature of health care completely from treating symptoms to predicting health status and taking steps accordingly.

That's a good fit with the disease-prevention goals of managed care. But it also requires highly individualized treatment, which nobody's been fooled into believing will come cheap. Add that to the ever-growing demand for health care services and tricky issues of confidentiality, and you have to wonder whether USA is prepared to handle it all.

Is the basis of Obama's Health-care promise "cheaper and more effective health-care for everyone" the new approach for affordable gene diagnosis and right treatment accordigly ?

Chicken or the egg is a trillion dollar question.