Common Cold Turns Deadly

[phoenixx]

This little news blurb freaked me RIGHT OUT today. Now I really, really want people who are sick to STAY THE HELL HOME.

Common Cold Mutates, Becomes Stronger - AOL News

[pippadaisy[$]]

And how helpful... he's psychotically sanitizing his hands now which will help breed ANOTHER of these things.

The problem is people going into the doctor and demanding antibiotics for everything under the sun. What did they THINK would happen?

My kids get antibiotics for strep and that's it unless they have an especially nasty ear infection. But there are several peds here who hand out Rxs like candy at Halloween the second kids get the sniffles.

[drmomentum[$]]

The common cold is a virus. I agree that misuse of antibiotics is a serious concern, but the danger of misusing antibiotics is that it can create resistant bacteria, not virii. I doubt this story has anything to do with antibiotics.

Hand washing is a good defense. People have to learn how to wash right, and then actually do it.

I also doubt that hand sanitizer is much of a problem. The sanitizing effect is temporary, and it's happening out in a wide open ecosystem of germs. Antibiotic resistance, as in the case of TB, happened inside the relatively protected system of a person's body.

When they withheld antibiotics from some patients, they found that some people with resistant TB would later revert back to a non-resistant form as the non-resistant bacteria had a chance to out-breed the resistant strains which thrived better int he presence of the antibiotics.

Out in the world, folks are constantly touching things and trading their germs. I haven't seen any real evidence that hand sanitizer creates an environment that breeds resistant strains. I think I've heard some research on Triclosan, the stuff that's in soap and elsewhere, but I can't remember specifics.

I think the bigger danger of sanitizer is that it might cause people to either wash less, or less carefully.

My non-professional, non-research-based opinion.

-JP

[magenta321]

Grr. The gods of EA just ate my post!

Anyway... The ingredient that makes hand sanitizers "sanitize" is alcohol. It's safe. The thing you probably fear is triclosan. It's found in anti-bacterial soaps, and it is a weakened version of what they treat some infections. If you are going to be fanatical about avoiding triclosan, you should start reading all your labels. Some other products that use triclosan include toothpastes, facial cleansers, and deodorants.

[Helen_B[$]]

A few years ago the province of Ontario changed is requirements for daycares from use of antibacterial soaps for handwashing, to no antibacterial soaps allowed. I am sure that this change came about to reduce the number of infections in the daycares and discourage the growth of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Also, one of the strategies in fighting stubborn yeast infections in women is to stop using antibacterial soap for handwashing, to help restore the body's healthy microbial balance. Maybe wide-spread use of hand sanitizer has a broader effect than one would think.