Thursday, May 29, 2008

A new deadly bacteria

A new bacteria has just now made the news. Not common until 2000 the superbug is showing up in hospitals and nursing homes. The real problem is that when antibiotics are used competing bacteria are killed and the bad bacteria explodes. Just thought you might like to know that you has good bacteria living on your skin and in your gut. If you use too much antibiotics and antibacterial cleaners then you kill the good guys that keep things in check. This is why we're getting superbugs like flesh eating bacteria and the like. Regular soap and hot water are all that's needed to clean without killing the good guys.

One ugly bacteria

3 comments:

NorthCountryLiberal said...

It was mandatory to spray and wipe equipment at the 'Y' where I worked out.

I looked up the ingredients in the spray bottle and found that it is toxic if it comes in contact with skin, eyes or inhaled.

I notified the Board of Directors, but they are still using it.

I dropped my membership.

People will get cancer to avoid getting the flu.

Robert Rouse said...

I grew up on a farm. We had chickens, goats, cattle, hogs, dogs, cats, and other "critters" around. All we ever used was a bar of Ivory Soap - or sometimes my grandfather had to have a bar of Lava. I was never sick - except for measles, chicken pox, etc. And this was only from coming in contact with someone outside the farming community - church if I recall correctly. At any rate, back in the sixties we didn't have modern products - I vividly remember the first concentrated shampoo for consumers. Of course most people my age recall the pearl being dropped into a bottle of Prell.

Now there are too many products that kill so many of the things we need to come into contact with to develop immunities on our own. I see too many parents making their children bath immediately after discovering a smudge. I also see those kids going to the doctor's office so many times a year that their butts have made permanent indents in the office furniture.

I guess this is why I can remember having conversations with people who were born in the 1800's. My farming relatives all lived well into their 80's and later. Most of them were lucky to get a good bath once a week.

BadTux said...

Seldom Seen Slim. Died at age 87, after having taken only one bath a year for the previous 60 years. It was often joked in Trona (the nearest occupied town) that the reason that Slim was seldom seen was that he was often smelled. When he came to town to go grocery shopping, the side of the supermarket that he was on quickly emptied out as people left to get away from the smell. But even with his lifelong tobacco addiction (the ever-present pipe), still didn't stop him from getting on to age 87 before dying...

Regarding soap: the deal about soap (the plain ole' stuff) is that it doesn't kill bacteria. Rather, it reduces the surface tension of water so that the bacteria on your skin end up going into the water, and thence down the drain. Soap and water is all you need for personal use. For use on things like toilet seats and kitchen sponges, chlorine bleach is all you need -- in a reasonably strong solution, it'll kill anything that's organic by eating its cell membranes away. Just wear nitrile gloves when applying it for that reason!

-- Badtux the Cleaning Penguin