What Doesn't Kill Us Makes Us Stronger
I'm not old enough to remember BA, the time before antibiotics.
Those staggeringly high mortality rates weren't just caused by poor nutrition or poor hygiene. Bazalgette, Nightingale and Lister, among others, had proved the necessity for hygiene in water supplies and sanitation, hospitals and operations in the nineteenth century.
WWI had slammed these lessons home. But it wasn't until post-WWII that antibiotics came into general use. Suddenly rates of infection plummetted, as did deaths from such infections. Antibiotics were seen as the Silver Bullet.
They would, along with vaccination against various killer diseases, render Disease dead. Henceforeward health would be the norm; helped, in the UK, by the new National Health Service - paid for by everyone, Free at the point of need.
And so it was, for years. Until the rise of 'Superbugs'. Bacteria resistant to various antibiotics; even resistant to multiple antibiotics. We could be facing another medical Dark Age where simple infections could again prove fatal to many.
There is something we can do about it. Not insisting on being prescribed antibiotics for every cough and sniffle. Colds and flu are virus infections. Antibiotics only work on bacteria, not viruses, and on increasingly few bacteria these days. Using antibiotics less often might help preserve their efficacy.
Then there's the use of antibiotics in farming. By all means treat sick animals, but don't routinely dose otherwise healthy animals as a 'preventative measure'. All you end up preventing is any good effect the antibiotics might have on sick animals, or people.
Because the resistant bacteria are already getting into the general environment - via even treated sewage outlets, or in run-off from fields and farms. Thus antibiotic resistance spreads to other bacteria in the general environment. Heck, you could pick up a Superbug at the seaside these days. Though you're more likely to encounter one in a hospital - this being where antibiotics are most in use.
Fortunately bacteria are killed by direct sunlight. It's the uv radiation that does it. Some sewage treatment plants are being built with uv irradiation of the emerging water, to ensure surviving bacteria are dead (including any Superbugs.) Other treatment plants are beginning to install them as 'bolt on' extras.
Then research is being done. Into more and effective antibiotics - though this is a stop-gap measure (see above.) Other people are researching into parasites which specifically target bacteria - phages. Yes, the bacteria are constantly mutating to evade phages, but the phages are also mutating to beat their defences. It's an area well worth the research - and development.
So the idea of a Return of the Dark Age of Lethal Infections may be just that. Or the return may be short-lived, though it's worth bearing in mind the next time you think 'antibiotics', Dear Reader.
And on a more routine note, and not just because I'm putting off cleaning upstairs, there are Cleaning Products. You know the kind, Dear Reader. Those marketed and labelled as 'Anti-bacterial'.
Sounds so hygienic, doesn't it. Wipe your surfaces with these 'Anti-bacterial' wipes, bin them, and everything is Really Safely Clean.
Except. Except anti-bacterials can have the same effect as antibiotics. All those Anti-bacterial wipes/sprays/gels could just be breeding stronger strains of bacteria.
It's worth a thought. Particularly when scientific studies have shown that washing your hands properly with soap and water is just as effective as using specific anti-bacterial products. And bacteria don't develop immunity to soap.
Nor do they develop immunity to good, old-fashioned bleach. Supermarket own brand is just as effective as Domestos* (other Brands are available.)
So I shall go clean the bathroom - with soap and bleach. The washing is already hung out in the sunshine - thus finishing off any bacteria which might have survived the 29°C wash cycle.
H emptied the Dyson the other day (I'm allergic to dust. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!) So I shall go dust and vacuum everything else. The place may not be that tidy, but it will be healthily clean**, and I shan't be aiding the Rise of the Superbugs.
Y'all have a good, and carefully clean, day now!
*Marketed as killing '99% of all known germs'. Hmmm, H and I think, what about the unknown germs?
**I'm reminded of something older women at Church told me when our two were small.
'You have to eat a peck of dirt before you die!' That's a standard bucketful of liquid dirt, or about 9 litres of dirt (wet or dry.)
I don't think either of them consumed that much before they learned to practise basic cleanliness. They both survived and are healthily hygienic now.
Those staggeringly high mortality rates weren't just caused by poor nutrition or poor hygiene. Bazalgette, Nightingale and Lister, among others, had proved the necessity for hygiene in water supplies and sanitation, hospitals and operations in the nineteenth century.
WWI had slammed these lessons home. But it wasn't until post-WWII that antibiotics came into general use. Suddenly rates of infection plummetted, as did deaths from such infections. Antibiotics were seen as the Silver Bullet.
They would, along with vaccination against various killer diseases, render Disease dead. Henceforeward health would be the norm; helped, in the UK, by the new National Health Service - paid for by everyone, Free at the point of need.
And so it was, for years. Until the rise of 'Superbugs'. Bacteria resistant to various antibiotics; even resistant to multiple antibiotics. We could be facing another medical Dark Age where simple infections could again prove fatal to many.
There is something we can do about it. Not insisting on being prescribed antibiotics for every cough and sniffle. Colds and flu are virus infections. Antibiotics only work on bacteria, not viruses, and on increasingly few bacteria these days. Using antibiotics less often might help preserve their efficacy.
Then there's the use of antibiotics in farming. By all means treat sick animals, but don't routinely dose otherwise healthy animals as a 'preventative measure'. All you end up preventing is any good effect the antibiotics might have on sick animals, or people.
Because the resistant bacteria are already getting into the general environment - via even treated sewage outlets, or in run-off from fields and farms. Thus antibiotic resistance spreads to other bacteria in the general environment. Heck, you could pick up a Superbug at the seaside these days. Though you're more likely to encounter one in a hospital - this being where antibiotics are most in use.
Fortunately bacteria are killed by direct sunlight. It's the uv radiation that does it. Some sewage treatment plants are being built with uv irradiation of the emerging water, to ensure surviving bacteria are dead (including any Superbugs.) Other treatment plants are beginning to install them as 'bolt on' extras.
Then research is being done. Into more and effective antibiotics - though this is a stop-gap measure (see above.) Other people are researching into parasites which specifically target bacteria - phages. Yes, the bacteria are constantly mutating to evade phages, but the phages are also mutating to beat their defences. It's an area well worth the research - and development.
So the idea of a Return of the Dark Age of Lethal Infections may be just that. Or the return may be short-lived, though it's worth bearing in mind the next time you think 'antibiotics', Dear Reader.
And on a more routine note, and not just because I'm putting off cleaning upstairs, there are Cleaning Products. You know the kind, Dear Reader. Those marketed and labelled as 'Anti-bacterial'.
Sounds so hygienic, doesn't it. Wipe your surfaces with these 'Anti-bacterial' wipes, bin them, and everything is Really Safely Clean.
Except. Except anti-bacterials can have the same effect as antibiotics. All those Anti-bacterial wipes/sprays/gels could just be breeding stronger strains of bacteria.
It's worth a thought. Particularly when scientific studies have shown that washing your hands properly with soap and water is just as effective as using specific anti-bacterial products. And bacteria don't develop immunity to soap.
Nor do they develop immunity to good, old-fashioned bleach. Supermarket own brand is just as effective as Domestos* (other Brands are available.)
So I shall go clean the bathroom - with soap and bleach. The washing is already hung out in the sunshine - thus finishing off any bacteria which might have survived the 29°C wash cycle.
H emptied the Dyson the other day (I'm allergic to dust. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!) So I shall go dust and vacuum everything else. The place may not be that tidy, but it will be healthily clean**, and I shan't be aiding the Rise of the Superbugs.
Y'all have a good, and carefully clean, day now!
*Marketed as killing '99% of all known germs'. Hmmm, H and I think, what about the unknown germs?
**I'm reminded of something older women at Church told me when our two were small.
'You have to eat a peck of dirt before you die!' That's a standard bucketful of liquid dirt, or about 9 litres of dirt (wet or dry.)
I don't think either of them consumed that much before they learned to practise basic cleanliness. They both survived and are healthily hygienic now.