Rite and Ritual

Aside

Posted on January 3rd, 2010 in life Antibiotic, Bacteria, Disinfectant, Health

In this BBC article , there’s some new confirmation for what’s been bothering me for some time:

“Disinfectants could effectively train bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics, research suggests.

“Scientists know bacteria can become inured to disinfectant, but research increasingly shows the same process may make them resistant to certain drugs.

“Scientists in Galway found that by adding increasing amounts of disinfectant to cultures of pseudomonas aeruginosa in the lab, the bacteria learnt to resist not only the disinfectant but also ciprofloxacin – a commonly-prescribed antibiotic - even without being exposed to it.

“The researchers report the bacteria had adapted to pump out anti-microbial agents – be they a disinfectant or an antibiotic – from their cells.”

(The italics and bold are mine for emphasis.) While the article does say that this is worrisome, it states that with the high concentration levels generally used in hospitals it shouldn’t be a problem – as long as the same wipe isn’t used on multiple surfaces. It also states that the “disinfectants may not just be the problem, they may also be the cure.”  …For hospitals perhaps, but not for homes.

I think there’s far too much disinfection going on in homes today. I’m not talking about washing with soap with every bathroom visit – I’m talking about the barrage of 99% antibacterial sprays for kitchen and “general” use. I think its amazing how well the depictions of the little green boogers on tv commercials work our perception of microbiotic and bacterial life. Its amazing that we can become so concerned about spraying everything down, when we have no idea what our tap or bottle water contains.