Gonorrhea As the Next Superbug

WrongSizeGlass writes "Reuters is reporting that Gonorrhea risks becoming a superbug: 'The sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea risks becoming a drug-resistant "superbug" if doctors do not devise new ways of treating it, a leading sexual health expert said.'"

Comments

You're not far off, actually!

[WheelDweller]

A few weeks back Slashdot ran a story about MRSA and other 'superbugs' being fought in (I believe it was) Finland.

The cool thing about it is, for at least a decade they've been using the same level of sanitation as 50 years ago: steam-cleaning the floors and walls, not using HAND SANITIZER all the time, and letting the place remain a bit "dirtier" than our own hospitals. THEY HAVE THE LOWEST NUMBER OF SUCH CASES.

It makes sense; let the lesser-bugs go, kill with dumber, more-trusted ways that kill ALL the bugs or none at all, and the superbugs have to mate with lesser-bugs. This bleeds out the specialty features.

Meanwhile, everytime someone shakes hands in America, they hit it again with the sanitizer. It's just a never-ending "Germ Olympics" where only the strongest survive.

We really need to consider 'alternative' means like this, and I think you've hit the penis on the head! :>

probiotics for the vagina

[nido]

When I was at the Natural Food store the other day, I noticed a probiotic in the refridgerator display called femdophilus. This product has two strains of lactic acid-producing bacteria that are well suited to colonizing the vagina.

Here's another one: http://www.gynophilus.ca/

I have an anecdote about conventional medical thought on bacteria, fungi, and the vagina. I took a late trip home a few months back, and Loveline came on the radio. I listened fairly regularly a long time ago, so I 'tuned in' for old times' sake.

One caller asked Dr. Drew what he could do about his new girlfriend's horrible vaginal odor. Dr. Drew & Crew were like, "what can you do? Bacterial Vaginosis is hard to treat. Don't say anything."

A later caller wanted to know what she could do about recurrent yeast infections. She'd tried any number of pharmaceutical anti-fungal medications, but the yeast didn't give up.

Knowing a bit about so-called "alternative" medical technology, I picked up the cell phone and called. While I was on hold, another caller came on to say that she had good luck with dealing with teh yeast by using only polyester underwear.

I asked Dr. Drew if it was safe to use yogurt in the vagina. He was like, "sure, but why bother? It's not going to help. These people have tried the most powerful antifungals available, and still have problems. What can yogurt do that drugs cannot?" (this was his sentiment, if not the exact wording).

While Yogurt is a sub-optimal probiotic solution, at least it's getting to the root of the problem. Yeast infections and bacterial vaginosis are caused when "bad" bacterial and fungi are able to establish themselves. No matter how many of these "bad" bacteria/fungi the antibiotic/antifungal is able to take out (99.9999% is not enough), the survivors will be able to quickly reestablish themselves once the pills are stopped.

In alternative medical thinking, "good" bacteria are used to coat the digestive system / skin / vagina with a protective film. When "bad" bacteria come along, there's no room available, so they can't establish a colony.

I don't know if there's been any research about probiotics & gonorrhea. But it'd be an interesting study...

here's an article about probiotics & Urinary tract infections: Specific probiotic strains are effective for genitourinary infections, Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Nov, 2006 by Alan R. Gaby