Tag: diarrhea

Norovirus: Oh LOOK!!! They’re RECYCLING!!

~ Pharmer

Case study: Norovirus spread among girls soccer team..

The Journal of Infectious Diseases carries a story about the 2010 Beaverton Bug Fest, in which a mini-epidemic of norovirus spread itself among an adolescent girls basketball team as they traveled to Seattle for a tournament. Norovirus causes gastrointestinal distress, cramping, vomiting, diarrhea and all sorts of things you want most on a road trip.

The virus was said to be spread by means of a REUSABLE grocery bag containing cookies which the girls were sharing.

No one really knows which came first: the sickness among all the girls or the ‘buggs’ on the RECYCLABLE grocery bag. But the fact that it made the news might be causing a reconsideration of the virtues of those reusable bags. The epidemiologists are suggesting bleach, which would make all bags white.

Pharmer says those plastic grocery bags from Walmart (the ones banned in San Francisco) are pretty good barf bags.

Master of the Obvious on Proton Pump Inhibitors

~ Pharmer

Proton Pump Inhibitors Linked to C difficile Diarrhea.

Some obvious things need a study to be established as fact.

The acidity of the stomach is good for beginning the digestion of proteins and for protecting the gut from unwanted, microbial, disease causing organisms. It also contributes to immediate and later absorption of vital nutrients such as iron. When the proton pump inhibitors such as prevacid, nexium, protonix first came onto the market, and were said to be much more effective in reducing stomach acid, Pharmer told the retail patients to be careful what food they ate at the picnics and wedding receptions. It would be easier to get bacterial food poisoning while taking a proton pump inhibitor. Pharmer also began mentioning to patients that it would decrease absorption of iron.

Who paid the FDA to put proton pump inhibitors over the counter? (Weren’t the H2 blockers, e.g. cimetidine, famotidine, enough?)

People are chowing down on these strong stomach acid suppressors, using them like Tums. Diarrheal episodes abound. Clostridium difficile (among other beastly buggs) blooms throughout the nursing homes, community, and hospitals. It’s getting more and more difficult to deal with, as resistance to antibiotics increases.

Amazing! There’s an association between use of the proton pump inhibitors and clostridium infections.

Proton pump inhibitors are what you use when life style changes fail and none of the other antacids work. See a physician who isn’t so crazy with the prescription pad.