I hear what you are all saying… the huge whirring blade will not rip through my flesh 
but, at the time, it was very alarming 
1 Like
I can remember watching a cast being cut off my leg when I was a child, wondering how it was that the blade hadn’t touched my skin.
1 Like
I never broke a bone while I was a child.
I waited until I was grown-up and fully understood all the horrors which might/might-not happen
1 Like
There was a medical program on tv years ago where a child was having a cast cut off, to reasure the child the doc ran the tool up and down his arm to show it wouldnt cut them.
3 Likes
It’s all fine for those who saw the TV etc etc…
but for the poor lady who did NOT see the TV and has been already suffering great pain due to nasty breaks, waving what looks like an electric circular saw in her face and smiling does not inspire confidence that all will be well… 
Now, let’s draw a line under my daft wimpishness 
1 Like
I can understand you’re concern. I have just had several bites and it’s taken 3 weeks for them to heal. I’m between doctors but have antibiotic cream and antihistamine to treat myself.
I use diluted vinegar if they are particularly nasty which has worked well over the years.
I’m glad to hear you got support from your local pharmacy
1 Like
Years ago I read about phages as an alternative to antibiotics
Russia have been using them for a long time
1 Like
Phages are potentially likely to be useful in a small range of infections, but they are also probably more specific that we are used to with antibiotics, more expensive to manufacture and distinctly less stable. I would also expect side effects and patient reactions to be more severe that for a ‘ice clean’ antibiotic.
I’ve had contact with people making commercial quantities of phage for R&D purposes - essentially you grow a lot of bacteria, infect them with phage, then after a pre-determined time harvest the phage. Removing host cell proteins while keeping the phage intact and infectious will be challenging. I’ve other concerns too, but that’s enough for now.
I watched a programme years ago when the worry was super bugs resistance to antibiotics. They had a big range for treating different ailments. Fascinating
1 Like
Another double post? Forum software?
I don’t see a double post unless it’s been deleted. The forum has been extremely problematic at times today. I noticed on my other forum there were over 5000 bots as well as the members online.
I deleted it hence my message above
And isn’t that now reality?
It’s seems so and not getting any better but I would defer to @Ancient_Mariner for more accurate information. MRSA is now common and Sepsis used to be something you barely heard about.
It’s not getting better. This is why there’s a substantial move to develop vaccines for many organisms that could be once treated with antibiotics. I did some contract testing work a couple of years ago for a well known pharma company developing a vaccine against the toxin from Staph Aureus - the bacteria doesn’t do much harm outside of the toxin, so if a vaccine can be developed to neutralise toxin activity then it gives the patient time to clear the bacteria without harm.
Expect to see a lot of new vaccines over the coming decade, not because it’s a new way to make more profit, but because antibiotics simply won’t work any more. Given the choice, I’d rather have a vaccine than a phage, so my own body can fight off the bacteria. Note that phage will only work with very specific bacteria - like antibiotics they cannot work against viruses.
1 Like
Yup. Currently on third antibiotic for E.Coli infection that is supposed to be susceptible to these particular ones according to lab tests.
They may have taken a sample for culture to test susceptibility, so hopefully the one you now have will work.
AHH, to fight that the best option is a fecal transfer/transplant, that may require finding a hospital licenced to carry out that procedure. Friend in hospital 5 weeks with different antibiotics that didn’t shift it and the hospital wasn’t licensed to do FT, suggested he transferred to another hospital not far away and they very reluctantly allowed it and he was over the e-coli in 5 days.
1 Like
Done that twice now!