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gemfyreI think the last one was my ranty rant on ecological restoration, which has since been expanded on for an essay in my exam.
However, due to happenings with my body at the moment I got thinking about ecological succession. Some people are so grossed out when they learn that there are squillions of bacteria and other organisms living on their body. Trust me, the effects of losing all these bacteria is so much worse. Some are nothing but friendly like the in vogue Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidus, Casei, Shirota etc. Some are good where they are, like E. coli and Pseudomonas but can be nasty if we are immuncomprimised or they get in the wrong spot. If we didn't have E. coli in our lower intestines we'd be in a lot of trouble. However, when they get to say, your mouth, or even the short distance to your urinary tract it's hell. Stinging urinary tract infections or food poisoning. Pseudomonas aeruginosa occurs naturally on the skin. It grows in massive quantities and takes up space that might otherwise be inhabited by nasty bacteria. P. aeruginosa itself however can get nasty if your immune system isn't as strong as it should be.
It's all about a mini ecological succession going on on our bodies. Like at the moment I'm taking Amoxycillin, possibly one of the most widely prescribed (and abused) anti-biotics. It's an all over anti-biotic, it knocks out anything bacterial. Seeing as I'm taking it orally it's playing havoc with above vogue friendly bacteria in my intestines. Being all through the intestines it's only natural some occurs around the nether regions, also doing it's job of taking up space that would otherwise be occupied by nastier organisms. Amoxycillin kills friendly bacteria, like say, a bunch of loggers chopping down all the big trees in a forest. What takes hold first in the forest area afterwards? You got it. Disturbance loving, fast growing weeds. Stuff no-one wants, it just sits there and makes a pain of itself until the proper ecosystem can re-establish. On the body, the weed is Candida albicans, the fungus that causes thrush. Like the weed that proliferates after a strip logging, it's always around, just in such small quantities that you don't notice, it can't take a hold because other organisms are taking up the space and nutriment. Take out the competitors and it has a field day, giving you nothing but grief until you can manage to replant the organisms that are MEANT to be there. In the body it takes a matter of days or weeks. Unfortunately in forests it can take hundreds if not thousands of years.
So now I'm equipped with medication to kill the fungus. But if I just decide to keep things clean and sterile so the fungus can't grow I'm not really going to help myself. I'm going to have to stay sterile the rest of my life, because the moment I let my guard down all the nasty organisms will immediately come back in force. The focus is on restoring what's meant to be there. Providing an acidic environment for the friendly bacteria to grow in despite the onslaught of ant-biotic, replacing these bacteria constantly so they can recolonise quickly and force out the fungus. We are way to focussed on sterility and killing every organism these days. If we just allowed ourselves to be exposed to the good organisms more we wouldn't have anywhere near as much trouble with the bad organisms, and superbugs would not exist.
So there you go. Trust me to turn my body into my own personal microbiology experiment.
However, due to happenings with my body at the moment I got thinking about ecological succession. Some people are so grossed out when they learn that there are squillions of bacteria and other organisms living on their body. Trust me, the effects of losing all these bacteria is so much worse. Some are nothing but friendly like the in vogue Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidus, Casei, Shirota etc. Some are good where they are, like E. coli and Pseudomonas but can be nasty if we are immuncomprimised or they get in the wrong spot. If we didn't have E. coli in our lower intestines we'd be in a lot of trouble. However, when they get to say, your mouth, or even the short distance to your urinary tract it's hell. Stinging urinary tract infections or food poisoning. Pseudomonas aeruginosa occurs naturally on the skin. It grows in massive quantities and takes up space that might otherwise be inhabited by nasty bacteria. P. aeruginosa itself however can get nasty if your immune system isn't as strong as it should be.
It's all about a mini ecological succession going on on our bodies. Like at the moment I'm taking Amoxycillin, possibly one of the most widely prescribed (and abused) anti-biotics. It's an all over anti-biotic, it knocks out anything bacterial. Seeing as I'm taking it orally it's playing havoc with above vogue friendly bacteria in my intestines. Being all through the intestines it's only natural some occurs around the nether regions, also doing it's job of taking up space that would otherwise be occupied by nastier organisms. Amoxycillin kills friendly bacteria, like say, a bunch of loggers chopping down all the big trees in a forest. What takes hold first in the forest area afterwards? You got it. Disturbance loving, fast growing weeds. Stuff no-one wants, it just sits there and makes a pain of itself until the proper ecosystem can re-establish. On the body, the weed is Candida albicans, the fungus that causes thrush. Like the weed that proliferates after a strip logging, it's always around, just in such small quantities that you don't notice, it can't take a hold because other organisms are taking up the space and nutriment. Take out the competitors and it has a field day, giving you nothing but grief until you can manage to replant the organisms that are MEANT to be there. In the body it takes a matter of days or weeks. Unfortunately in forests it can take hundreds if not thousands of years.
So now I'm equipped with medication to kill the fungus. But if I just decide to keep things clean and sterile so the fungus can't grow I'm not really going to help myself. I'm going to have to stay sterile the rest of my life, because the moment I let my guard down all the nasty organisms will immediately come back in force. The focus is on restoring what's meant to be there. Providing an acidic environment for the friendly bacteria to grow in despite the onslaught of ant-biotic, replacing these bacteria constantly so they can recolonise quickly and force out the fungus. We are way to focussed on sterility and killing every organism these days. If we just allowed ourselves to be exposed to the good organisms more we wouldn't have anywhere near as much trouble with the bad organisms, and superbugs would not exist.
So there you go. Trust me to turn my body into my own personal microbiology experiment.
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Date: 2003-07-01 07:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-01 08:41 am (UTC)