Anti-Bacterial Soaps

Are they really good for you? What do they really do? Let’s ask the CDC! And since the CDC article gets somewhat technical, I’ll break it down to what I understand about it.

For years now we’ve been hearing about the overuse of antibiotics. We get a cold (virus) and the doctor gives us antibiotics that is designed to kill bacteria. This doesn’t work because viruses are not actually alive so the antibiotic does nothing except to allow other bacteria to evolve into an antibiotic resistant strain. The antibiotic kills off the weaker bacteria and allows the resistant ones to reproduce.

There are now over 700 different anti-bacterial soaps and products in the market for home use. These work the same way that the internal antibiotic medicines do. They kill off the weaker bacteria and allow the bacteria to get stronger and immune to the anti-bacterial soap.

So what does this mean for us when we use this soap? Well it means that we are creating trillions of little super bacteria all over our homes and bodies. Here is a direct quote from the CDC that I found interesting:

“Interesting laboratory findings suggest a link between this resistance in cMRSA and the use of antibacterial products.“

cMRSA? Whats that? Well the full name for it looks to be Staphylococcus aureus, or Staph infection for short. Staph infection has been in the news for resisting antibiotics and killing people. One article in 2004 even says that staph infection deaths are up 1400% over the last decade. Nice huh?

As if dying were not enough, there is also a link between antibacterial producs and allergies. The way I understand it is that when you are young and if you use the antibacterial products your immune system doesn’t mature correctly. It kind of stays with creating an antibody solution as opposed to a cell based response. To be honest I don’t fully understand what they are talking about with this. The way I picture it is that the immune system creates something to throw at whatever is disturbing the body instead of letting the bodies cells absorb and destroy the irritants. If that makes any sense whatsoever.

So in my opinion, using these new Anti-Bacterial soaps does not really look like a good idea.

Update: With the sinking economy hospitals are cutting back on their hospital infection workers. As a result the ability to manage infections such as staph infections has been diminished. Read the full story on MSN.

Tagged as: Add new tag, Anti, AntiBacterial, Antibiotics, Bacteria, cMRSA, Staph Infection, Staphylococcus aureus