Ok, so I typo’d strains…otherwise my post is in agreement with your statement about many strains of E. coli being harmless in humans’ intestinal tracts.
However, no one ever brought up the Acidophilus cultures except you. I did state that Augmentin & other antibiotics kill E. coli, and other “helpful” bacteria. Loss of ALL of these leads to overgrowth of resistant bacteria (Clostridium dificile among others) & yeast in the intestines, which results in diarrhea in many individuals. Lactobacillus or other cultures may be beneficial in helping to restore balanced growth of many kinds of organisms, including E. coli, in the gut, even though they don’t directly replace the E.coli themselves.
By the way, it customary when arguing against something already posted to provide a cite, rather than to curse & scream at people to look it up themselves.
And, here are 2 abstracts found on MEDline cross-searching diarrhea & antibiotics:
While these do not specifically mention all of the different bacterial strains killed by Augmentin, or other antibiotics, here’s an excerpt from another abstract confirming that a majority of E. coli strains are susceptiple to Augmentin(amoxicillin/clavulonic acid):
Sue from El Paso
Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
Since this thread is still active, no one has brought up that E. Coli are going to be in bath water whether the baby poops or not. There won’t be as many of them, but there are E. Coli all around the “naughty bits”. This was covered fairly well in the “do I need to wash my hands after I pee” column. Since E. Coli will always be present it makes sense to clean the tub after every use, not just after an “accident”.
I’ve noticed that people who are germ sensitive will ignore many sources of germs and concentrate their fear and aversion on a few obvious sources. That’s probably a good thing, otherwise they would be living in plastic bubbles.
Now just a dang minute! We had an e. coli outbreak in Atlanta a while back which was ultimately traced to a kid at a water park who apparently leaked a little poopage while he was in the water, and thus infected a bunch of other kids.
Now if the bacteria in human intestines is not harmful, then what gives? How did this outbreak occur?
“Every time you think, you weaken the nation!” --M. Howard (addressing his brother, C. Howard).
I can’t imagine that the above scenario is accurate; else public pools would be the most dangerous invention in the history of mankind.
If I were to say that today’s tomatoes are an index of the decline of Western man I should be thought a crank but nations do not, I think, ascend on such tomatoes.
–Russell Hoban in Turtle_Diary
IIRC, the kid this was traced to was allowed to play in the water park, despite being ill himself. We humans always have bacteria living in our GI tract; these are beneficial to us. Sometimes, we get other strains of bacteria growing in our intestines that cause illness through any of the various mechanisms listed above. If a person with illness-causing (pathogenic) bacteria growing in his intestines poops in the water, millions of bacteria, both harmless & pathogenic will be released into the water. Anyone who ingests any of this water is at risk for getting sick.
The key difference here is that in the OP’s scenario, the kid was healthy. While the accident would have caused lots of bacteria to be released into the water, they would be of the harmless variety. In the Atlanta water park situation, the kid was ill & released pathogenic bacteria into water.
Sue from El Paso
Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
Yes, lissener, the scenario is accurate. As I understand it, the water park in question allegedly (always use that word to avoid defamation lawsuits ;)) allowed the chlorine level at the pool in question to drop to an unsafe level.
“Every time you think, you weaken the nation!” --M. Howard (addressing his brother, C. Howard).
Accurate enough in details, perhaps, as far as it goes, but not in its implications: the E. colithat was in the kid’s poop was not fromthe kid’s poop. To imply that this scenario suggests that kids’ poop is dangerous in normal circumstances is like suggesting that runny noses cause colds. The infectious agent, whether it’s a cold virus or bovine E. coli, comes from without, not within.
If I were to say that today’s tomatoes are an index of the decline of Western man I should be thought a crank but nations do not, I think, ascend on such tomatoes.
–Russell Hoban in Turtle_Diary
Accurate enough in details, perhaps, as far as it goes, but not in its implications: the E. colithat was in the kid’s poop was not fromthe kid’s poop. To imply that this scenario suggests that kids’ poop is dangerous in normal circumstances is like suggesting that runny noses cause colds. The infectious agent, whether it’s a cold virus or bovine * E. coli,* comes from without, not within.
**
[/QUOTE]
If I were to say that today’s tomatoes are an index of the decline of Western man I should be thought a crank but nations do not, I think, ascend on such tomatoes.
–Russell Hoban in Turtle_Diary
Geez, lissener, isn’t this thread anal enough without that last post?
I would have hoped that the little confused smiley at the end of my previous post would have been a fair indicator to those reading it that I had some confusion on the mechanism of transmission. Thankfully, Majormd came along to clear up the confusion. I wasn’t “implying” anything, I was relating some facts (accurately, I might add) and asking for an explanation. Sheesh!
“Every time you think, you weaken the nation!” --M. Howard (addressing his brother, C. Howard).
