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Refuge for the rational.
Friday, January 14, 2005
There's That Bug Going Around You Know
My question is, when is that bug ever not going around? And what exactly makes this particular bug so special that it becomes that bug? And, are these people aware that there is more than one of that bug; that your body develops an immunity to a virus once it fights it off unless it mutates, becoming a different bug, and that this is the whole concept behind the flu shot, i.e.: immunizations? And that there cannot really be any such thing as that bug? Let's move on...
I've been seeing some disturbing things on television lately. Now, don't assume that I harbor any naive surprise when faced with advertising that uses fear to hook its audience. My surprise, or rather the reason it becomes of note in my blog, is due to my usual imperviousness to said techniques and my sudden vulnerability to them. One commercial (and this will teach me to watch television as I usually do not), depicted people sneezing and hacking all over their hands and then touching something that some unknowing person eventually came along and touched as well. As I’m sure you can deduce, the product appears in all of its gleaming glory, slowly descending from the heavens, and the pleasant and unambiguous voiceover informs the audience that this product is necessary in fending off the bacterial refuse you can’t see but have no choice but to interact with. I shuddered. I reeled. Then I went and washed my hands.
My last customer at work today sounded very ill. He also looked and smelled very ill. I developed a sudden choking feeling in my throat at one point as I listen to him struggle to speak through the mucousy (now, even though this isn’t really a word, how would you spell it…ey or y?) obstruction in his throat, hoarsely whispering so he didn’t strain his vocal chords, which I momentarily imagined to be swollen and ripping with pain. My brain even talked me into a headache and an itch in my sinuses. These things vanished as soon as he left. I sprayed the air around his chair with Lysol (because it kills 99.99% of germs) and proceeded to wash my hands thoroughly. It was only once the dangerous chemicals diffused enough to be olfactially undetectable that I began to breathe normally.
So, my question is, do we really need to be so worried about these germs to the degree we are? Do we need products to keep us safe from them? The WHO has, after all, cited antibiotic resistance as potentially creating a worldwide epidemic and yet antibiotics are still seen as a convenient and safe way to combat illness. I know people personally who see no harm in popping a penicillin whenever they feel they are at risk of making contact with a little bacteria. Antibiotics have become so trusted that people in the third world will purchase one of the coveted pills when faced with infection. All this does, is allow the bacteria to develop a resistance to the pill, thereby making it absolutely ineffectual in exactly the same way immunizations make us immune to viruses. Due to the rapid reproduction rate of bacteria, many formerly easily treatable bacterial infections, such as tuberculosis, are now completely resistant to many of the most affordable and safe antibiotics available.
This may sound completely redundant to those of you who are aware enough of this problem, however, I think it’s worth mentioning since I’ve met university students who don’t know what antibiotic resistance is. So, educate yourselves! If you put it in your body you should have some knowledge about it (I won’t even start critiquing the way some people eat). Don’t take antibiotics unless you absolutely need to; 70% of throat infections are viral and bacterial ones can usually be fought off by your immune system in the same amount of time, whether aided by drugs or not.
This concludes my sudden moment of advocacy.
I've been seeing some disturbing things on television lately. Now, don't assume that I harbor any naive surprise when faced with advertising that uses fear to hook its audience. My surprise, or rather the reason it becomes of note in my blog, is due to my usual imperviousness to said techniques and my sudden vulnerability to them. One commercial (and this will teach me to watch television as I usually do not), depicted people sneezing and hacking all over their hands and then touching something that some unknowing person eventually came along and touched as well. As I’m sure you can deduce, the product appears in all of its gleaming glory, slowly descending from the heavens, and the pleasant and unambiguous voiceover informs the audience that this product is necessary in fending off the bacterial refuse you can’t see but have no choice but to interact with. I shuddered. I reeled. Then I went and washed my hands.
My last customer at work today sounded very ill. He also looked and smelled very ill. I developed a sudden choking feeling in my throat at one point as I listen to him struggle to speak through the mucousy (now, even though this isn’t really a word, how would you spell it…ey or y?) obstruction in his throat, hoarsely whispering so he didn’t strain his vocal chords, which I momentarily imagined to be swollen and ripping with pain. My brain even talked me into a headache and an itch in my sinuses. These things vanished as soon as he left. I sprayed the air around his chair with Lysol (because it kills 99.99% of germs) and proceeded to wash my hands thoroughly. It was only once the dangerous chemicals diffused enough to be olfactially undetectable that I began to breathe normally.
So, my question is, do we really need to be so worried about these germs to the degree we are? Do we need products to keep us safe from them? The WHO has, after all, cited antibiotic resistance as potentially creating a worldwide epidemic and yet antibiotics are still seen as a convenient and safe way to combat illness. I know people personally who see no harm in popping a penicillin whenever they feel they are at risk of making contact with a little bacteria. Antibiotics have become so trusted that people in the third world will purchase one of the coveted pills when faced with infection. All this does, is allow the bacteria to develop a resistance to the pill, thereby making it absolutely ineffectual in exactly the same way immunizations make us immune to viruses. Due to the rapid reproduction rate of bacteria, many formerly easily treatable bacterial infections, such as tuberculosis, are now completely resistant to many of the most affordable and safe antibiotics available.
This may sound completely redundant to those of you who are aware enough of this problem, however, I think it’s worth mentioning since I’ve met university students who don’t know what antibiotic resistance is. So, educate yourselves! If you put it in your body you should have some knowledge about it (I won’t even start critiquing the way some people eat). Don’t take antibiotics unless you absolutely need to; 70% of throat infections are viral and bacterial ones can usually be fought off by your immune system in the same amount of time, whether aided by drugs or not.
This concludes my sudden moment of advocacy.
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