Some questions! - Page 2

[Frankly Speaking]

Originally Posted by colaga

But strep and staph infections are treated with different antibiotics, right? What will cure strep won't cure staph, is that at least so?

Sometimes that's true and sometimes it isn't. There are some meds that are very specific and others that will attack a wide range of pathogens.

When you say that sometimes doctor will give a "broad spectrum antibiotic", what exactly do you mean by that?

They are antibiotics that will attack maybe 6, 8 or 10 different bacteria. However, none of them will attack all bacteria and there are hundreds or thousands of different ones. That's why you have to know what you are going after to be assured of appropriate treatment. Doctors will repeatedly see the same 3 or 4 different bacterial infections and choose a broad spectrum antibiotic to treat them and will see success. It's like going rabbit hunting with a small caliber rifle and all of a sudden, you see a deer. That small caliber rifle is not going to bring that deer down even though it has brought all of the rabbits down. Now, imagine you are hunting at night and you can't see the prey as it is with bacteria that you can't see and you'll see that without a culture to see your prey, you're just shooting in the dark. (apologies to animal rights activists . . . I'm just using it to illustrate a point)

Thanks so much Quirky! I am wondering though, can you tell me more about anti-yeast medication? How exactly does it work?

Imagine that bacteria are basically animals and fungals are basically plants. (which is about as good of a illustration as I can think of at the moment) You would use poison on the animals and bacteria (like rat poison) and you would use Round Up or broadleaf weed killer on plants. Rat poison is going to have no effect on plants and Round Up will have no effect on animals. Antibiotics are like a poison and anti-yeast medications are like Round Up. However,there is a different situation in that the poison and the anti-yeast meds must kill their prey without harming their host. (people) That's the really difficult part of discovering these meds and getting them to market.



Frank

[girlndocs]

Just a note -- often yeast infections can be treated with a probiotic like plain, unsweetened yogurt with active cultures. This is because we're supposed to have some yeast "down there", and the other bacteria keep the yeast in check -- it's about the balance of different species. When other species of bacteria are decimated (like by antibiotics) the yeast can grow out of control and become a "yeast infection". Probiotics help restore the balance of species by introducing a new bacterial population.

[Quirky]

Ummm, I did say that up above.....I am all about probiotics! Just wanted to point out that there are multiple options for treating yeast depending on how severe it is.

[girlndocs]

Whoops, ya did : Sorry!