Antibiotics and E. Coli
Here’s more evidence that perhaps antibiotics aren’t the wonder drugs many believe them to be. Mary Engel of The Los Angeles Times reports some health experts are warning against the usage of antibiotics to treat E. coli:
A 2000 study found that children infected by E. coli O157:H7 and given antibiotics developed a life-threatening complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome at higher rates than children who did not take antibiotics. The syndrome is the leading cause of kidney failure in children…To put it mildly Dr. Fuhrman is leery of antibiotics. Check out Monday’s post Inappropriate Use of Antibiotics for more.
…Not everyone who takes antibiotics gets worse. And some develop hemolytic uremic syndrome without taking antibiotics. CDC scientists believe that the unusually high proportion of people in the spinach outbreak who were hospitalized or developed the syndrome was probably the result of a particularly lethal sub-type of E. coli O157:H7. They also think that the spinach may have been especially heavily contaminated with E. coli.
