I agree with what you say about our body having lots of beneficial bacteria and viruses.

But my own concern isn't about any one thing t they are talking about, good or bad. My concern is that they've rigged the game so as to stop honest progress and instead to focus their efforts around bringing the most profitable drugs or treatments to the market.

I think the big problem is that they way medicine has become intertwined with the government has created a situation where progress is at a snails pace. Compare the progress in medicine to the progress with computers, cell phones, cars, or even eyeglasses, things that are far less regulated (and which provide much higher value now than they used to for a given expense) and you can see that something has gone horribly wrong with medicine.

I know exactly what it is, too. It's the link to government oversight that has turned it all into crony capitalism. Capitalism and free enterprise driven by customer wants and desires works great. Crony Capitalism where the government picks winners and losers and rigs the game works horribly. Right now everything in medicine has this convoluted government involvement that makes it nearly impossible, as a consumer, to have any power over what options are available to you. As a result none of the research, nor any of the hospitals are driven by maximizing their value to consumers. So everything has not only not progressed fast. Many things have went backwards, at least when cost is figured into the mix.