I’ve checked the web and the archives here, but cannot find any studies done on the effects of drinking alcohol on the organisms which live in the human body.
I found a few that deal with alcohol killing the critters that line the mouth, throat, and nose…but I’m more interested in the ones that receive their only dose of alcohol from the bloodstream.
I understand that even when totally blotto, the blood isn’t saturated with alcohol, but there is still a significant amount present.
I want to know what happens to the various bacteria and virii when their human host has a double-shot of bourbon.
Many of these organisms are anaerobic, but I don’t know if that matters. Alcohol will kill them–thus its use as a disinfectant–but that’s generally in a 100% concentration.
So, when I go out drinking with the guys, does the influenza virus within me get drunk too? Does my drinking have any effect on its growth, its mitosis and mutation rates, or its lifespan? What about Cancer, HIV, and the “good bacteria” within us?
-David
A drunk germ is a happy germ. Through some get mean drunk and cause hangovers.
The laws against drunk driving typically set the blood alcohol limit at 0.10% [now lowered to 0.08%] so there is very little achohol in the blood.
WAG: The alcohol in your bloodstream has some detrimental effect on germs in your body, but the beneficial effect is heavily outweighed by alcohol’s suppression of your immune response.
I’ve always wondered this myself. I’ve always come to the conclusion that you were more susceptible to disease when drunk. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe its the opposite. I hope I’m wrong cause that will give me one more reason to drink.
Where I live the alcohol limit is .05, which equals just over one beer for a man weighing about 170lbs
Also Vitamin B12 is the ultimate hangover pervention method, for those who needed to know.
Heh…think some B-12 might help that influenza virus who’s gone on a mean drunk? 
I found another tidbit relating (sort of) to the point that CanadaBoy brought up: It’s true that drinking alcohol can kill the germs that are in the mouth and throat, but the alcohol will also dissolve parts of the mucas there…the end result being that the remaining germs have an easier time entering the bloodstream.
-David
Well, I guess SuaSponte brought up the same point, so phooey on me!
David