Re: FDA PLANS CURBS ON ANIMAL ANTIBIOTICS!!!

[Guest guest]

Terry-

In my Microbiology class last semester, we learned that there are 10 TIMES

as many organisms living in a person (or cow, I would assume) as there are

cells of that person.

Plus, when a bug becomes resistant, it can give that resistance to other

bugs EVEN ACROSS SPECIES LINES. The bugs don't even have to survive- the DNA

that makes them resistant can be eaten by scavenging native bugs in your

gut. Then, these bugs become resistant. Improbable? NO WAY, when you

consider the number of bugs we're talking about! ONE of them is going to eat

something useful, and then all of it's progeny will be resistant.

Once a bug gains resistance, it usually does not lose it. Thus, simply

avoiding antibiotics may not make the resistance go away, even though

elementary genetics would suggest that a bug that is replicating useless DNA

would be at a disadvantage to others, and would reproduce fewer times.

Scientists are not sure why this is.

If you DO use antibiotics, you kill off the helpful native bugs that aren't

resistant, clearing the way for bugs that are to reproduce like crazy. (This

is why antibiotics often give women yeast infections- the yeast is normally

held at bay by resident flora. Antibiotics kill the bacteria but not the

yeast. In the absence of competitors, the yeast really proliferates. Combat

this by drinking Acidophilus (sp?) milk and eating yogurt, which restores

some normal flora, and by drinking cranberry juice, which acidifies the

urine and differentially inhibits the yeast.)

Sorry so wordy!