Bug (disambiguation) - "Disambiguation" is a term that appears on many Wikipedia pages and they are pages that try to separate out the many sorts of meanings that a given word, phrase, or other communication can intend. Here, I use "bugs" to refer specifically to microbes that live on or in me, especially in my intestines.
[I just learned while zipping around the internet this morning that "bugs" can and does in some fields stand for 'B.U.G.S.' or "Bayesian Using Gibbs Sampling". Just thought you might like to know that.]
On an entirely different topic, I was tickled when I was prescribed a probiotic along with a prescription for antibiotics. I have had increasing discomfort, some likely due to attitude, with antibiotics but my doctor warned me not to halt the antibiotic before I had taken all the pills prescribed. Premature halting increases the chance that germs will develop immunity to the antibiotic, a problem that is getting worse, worldwide. But today's general antibiotics are indeed ANTI biological and tend to decrease or eliminate important and helpful body bugs. Dr. Martha Herbert, a pediatric neurologist, has emphasized the possibility that gut bug health might be a key to improving the condition of those on the autism spectrum.
In August when I was diagnosed with pneumonia and was prescribed antibiotics, Lactinex, a probiotic with bulgar was also prescribed. However, the local pharmacy didn't have that and substituted Proflora, which the pharmacist explicitly mentioned as being new and more powerful. I took one tablet daily for a while but after about two weeks, I felt that I needed to stop. My system was a little too active.
For about 40 years, I have been subject to diverticulitis, weaknesses in the wall of the intestine that become infected, painful and possibly dangerous. The usual advice in such a case is to increase the amount of bran and roughage consumed. However, since the Proflora pills, I have not needed the daily dose of psyllium hull products that I took for decades.
I haven't read "Life on Man", which is fairly old now but I see a steady increase in the stream of articles on the life in and on our bodies. Of course, some such life creates infection and threatens us but quite a bit does not. I recommend Hager's "The Demon Under the Microscope" for a reminder of how harsh and precarious life was not long ago without antibiotics. But bugs that would eat us, mangle us and generally interfere with our lives are wily and fast at changing themselves. So, better targeting of our miniscule enemies and better support of our miniscule allies is becoming more important all the time.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
