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by Suby the Coat on September 17th, 2009

Suby the Coat

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How best can we fight bacteria and keep ourselves out of harms way?

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  • by anonymous on September 17th, 2009

    anonymous

    This question is interesting.
    1) Why fight bacteria?
    2) What is good and bad bacteria?
    3) What's being done?

    1) There is a lot of talk about bacteria and how its harmful. Whilst its true that some can harm people, its also the case that very little of the bacteria people normally come in contact do real harm. The opposite it true.

    2) Without bacteria we couldn't live - end of story. From the bacteria in our gut to that which reside on our skin, they serve as a protection from other bacteria that do not help us. The balance of good and bad bacteria in the intenstines is part of the immune system, and is necessary for proper digestion. Any change in that and you can have serious problems.

    3) Antibacteria handsoaps, massive antibiotic feeding to animals & fish along with over prscription of such to people - especially in the US - harm everyone. Just to give an example,
    many US doctors prescribe these things for ear problems w/o checking for a bacterial infection, and without giving the child time to fight the infection himself. The reality is that rarely is there any infection at all caused by bactera in the ear, and giving those medicines do have side effects to the child, and the other is that bacteria that happen to be in the body develop resistance to the medicine. Also, good bacteria in the gut die, and if this happens a lot, the child can have other problems.

    Compare that to the same issue in Europe - especially Sweeden - where children likewise hav high incidents of ear aches; doctors rarely prescribe anitbiotics, and when they feel its necessary, they perfom a test. Need I mention the soar throats, colds and other misuses of this? Some sore throats do require this, but a tst is necessary and as for colds, that's not effective at all. Virus is different, so unless there is a bacterial infection, then parents demanding medicine from the doctor actually hurt their children in this case.

    As for animals, they cannot naturally live in large numbers together, and any attempt to group then in wharhouses or fish farms by the hundreds or thousands rquire the use of antibiotics. This means several things 1) the bacteria develop rsistance, bcome more difficult to fight, and new medicine must be developed (not easy to do) and 2) its quite possible that your consumption of that animal or its milk will contain small traces of such medicine. Do you think that will affect you?

    Knowing what bacteria do and what they don't do and how they play a vital role in life is necessary. If you want to keep yourself out of harms way, learn about this topic. I don't like the wording of this qustion at all.

    There's one source you can read if you're interested:
    You can read herehttp://books.google.com/books?id=yNFN1OpnkBkC&dq=fast+food+nation&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=T3qvSvSNCMnUkAWQ35GVBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9#v=onepage&q=&f=false

    Comments

    • Thanks for your detailed analysis of the topic, questioneverything.
      Just one more question: Does alcohol consumed destroy intestinal bacteria in humans and create an imbalance?
      +6.

      Suby the Coat

      by Suby the Coat on September 17th, 2009

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