[AnotherUnixGeek]

MRSA is a strain of staph bacteria that does not respond to penicillin and related antibiotics but can be treated with other drugs.

I've been reading that drug-resistant bacteria strains are proliferating, due in no small part to the irresponsible use of anti-bacterial ingredients in hand soap and other products. The nice thing about antibiotics is that they can kill harmful bacteria inside our bodies without killing us. There are plenty of chemicals to kill bacteria outside of our bodies, such as alcohol. Letting the antibiotic weapons we've gained over the last century become useless because they're being used as marketing gimmicks is incredibly irresponsible.

[Sunshine Sister]

I wonder if this is really true. I made the same statement as you about anti-bacterial soap and was soundly ridiculed about it. Who is right?

[ghostrider]

Letting the antibiotic weapons we've gained over the last century become useless because they're being used as marketing gimmicks is incredibly irresponsible.

Did you ever see "Planet of the Apes?" We live in such a time. Now, its "Planet of the Corporations." When there is a corporate profit to be made, people are expendable dirt. The will and survival of corporations is paramount.

[ari-freedom]

everyone wants the quick fix, the magic diet pill so that they can eat all they want and still lose weight, the easy credit card debt to pay for groceries...

[alarm rider]

Good points. I think that we have known for years that people who take antibiotics, or parents that have taken large doses of the same are less resistant and their off-spring less resistant to infection.

I knew this years ago, so I only take antibiotics if I really have to, and if no other treatment or natural remedy exists. I can count on one hand the number of time I have taken antibiotics in the last 15 years, or as you say, using anti-bacterial soaps, etc.

[60Gunner]

Uhh, not necessarily. It depends on the type and spectrum of the antibiotic. 'Broad-spectrum' antibiotics are just that- they kill a variety of organisms without being picky. That includes organisms that occur naturally in the human body, usually in the mouth and GI tract. That's why when patients take Ciprofloxacin or Cefazolin, they get oral thrush, vaginal yeast infections, or Clostridium difficile "superinfections." Of these, "C-diff" is by far the worst. It's highly contagious, is not eliminated by alcohol-based hand sanitizers, and it can kill you.

Antibiotics are not a cure-all. If you have a cold, don't ask for them. Sure, doctors contributed to the problem we have by prescribing then irresponsibly, but patients are also to blame for demanding that they be given antibiotics for every frigging headcold or sniffle.