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Going to the hospital is usually bad news. Catching C.Difficile is worse considering that most hospitals in Canada have this nasty bug roaming around, not to mention the stuff already resides in most of our colons. When things get ugly is when antibiotics have killed all the helpful bacteria in our guts allowing C.diff to throwdown and start raising the roof causing fecal mayhem for all those involved. However, all is not lost.
“A unique antibody from a llama could prove to be a key weapon against C. difficile, a nasty infection that is a growing problem in many hospitals throughout North America.
Clostridium difficile is a common cause of infectious diarrhea in nursing homes and hospitals and usually occurs in patients who have been taking regular antibiotics for an infection.”
The one of the usual treatments is fecal bacteriotherapy which is finding compatable donor feces and repopulating 
your intestinal gut-flora so the C.diff house party can stop. Of course, having a reverse enema with someone else’s poop somehow seems a little disquieting to most…
“New research from the University of Calgary and the National Research Council in Ottawa suggests that simple antibodies from the llama can interfere with the disease-causing toxins from the infection.
U of C professor Dr. Kenneth Ng said that discovery moves them a step closer to understanding how to neutralize the toxins and create novel treatments for the disease.”
Thank you our lovely, albeit smelly, Llama friends; for possibly preventing reverse-poop enemas in a hospital near you in the future.
It is always amazing to witness the clueless try and defend what is indefensible. Water has no “memory” and will not cure you of any sort of disease that requires actual medicine, say for instance Polio. The video on the CBC site had a mother suggest that a homeopathic vaccine for Polio was ‘protecting’ her child. After I stuffed my cortex back into my skull (it runs away from white-hot stupidity) I realized that it was time for another post on the current round of homoeopathic ratbaggery . Please see the science blog Respectful Insolence for more homoeopathic loonery exposed.
I did find a previous video on Youtube from CBC Marketplace on colon cleansing which is another money-sink for ignorant people. Enjoy –
Update: Thanks to Intransigentia for getting the links to the CBC Marketplace show on Youtube. Also see Orac’s generally favorable analysis of how the CBC treated the woo-meisters.
The Provincial Progressive Conservative party in Alberta should really jettison the ‘progressive’ part of their name. They have not done anything particularly progressive since the latest oil company approved election campaign nominated Ed Stelmach as First Courtier to Big Business Premier of Alberta. We really do get what we deserve when we continually vote the PC’s into office, namely a province run for the benefit of business rather than the benefit of the people. It makes sense then to turf knowledgeable specialists such as Raj Sherman when he dares to make a evidence based argument instead of what the party line dictates.
“The Alberta MLA who criticized his own government over its handling of backlogs in the province’s emergency rooms has been suspended from the Tory caucus. Raj Sherman, the Progressive Conservative MLA for Edmonton-Meadowlark and an emergency room physician, made headlines over the past week for his sharp criticism of Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach and how the province has managed long lines in the province’s ERs.”
Won’t the optics look back for the Government when they boot out a doctor for speaking up about an area of expertise? Sherman says:
No more evidence based decisions for you!
“For me, it’s really a matter of principle. I guess the principles of being a doctor and advocating for patients collided with the principles of politics,” Sherman said.
“I don’t see a reason why they would have needed to collide. I think politicians and doctors, voters and patients are one and the same. But for me it’s a bit of a sad day.”
Sherman said he will now sit as an Independent.”
It is a bit of sad day for all Albertans because stuff like this gets buried so quickly in the province and then come voting time, we elect, you guessed it, more PC’s into office. So, should we really be surprised anymore when such decisions are undertaken? Not in Alberta, where a tie clip that ran for the PC’s would get elected.
Find your woo! (click on image to embiggen) H/T:Crispian Jago’s blog
See also his Periodic Table of Irrational Nonsense!
Way to go Alberta!
With the amount of imprudent tampering that is going on with the publishing of scientific results in Canada as of late it is quaintly surprising to see that Alberta will be leading the way with free flu vaccinations this year.
“EDMONTON – Alberta will offer seasonal and H1N1 flu protection in one shot when the province’s immunization program begins after Thanksgiving.
The shot will be free.
Health officials say the province has already received large shipments of influenza vaccine and will receive more throughout the flu season.”
We are acting on evidence based ideas and carrying them out. Alberta politics has way of surprising people, in this case, with a brief instance of lucidity.
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Oh as a related bonus, the anti-vaxxer bingo card I found at ratbags.com. See if you can complete yours today!
Would it be surprising our government is focused on building prisons for non-reported crimes, rather than helping the mentally ill who currently reside within the prison population and really should not be there?
“The needs of mentally ill offenders in custody exceed the current capacity of the Correctional Service of Canada, according to the report released Thursday.
“Canadian penitentiaries are becoming the largest psychiatric facilities in the country,” said Howard Saper, correctional investigator of Canada.”
We are warehousing the mentally ill instead of treating them. Quelle suprise!
“In reviewing offender access to mental health services, the report found that the intermediate care component of the correctional service’s mental health strategy has not yet been implemented due to a lack of funding. Offenders requiring intermediate care fall between those needing primary care and acute inpatient care.”
Of course, this issue falls nowhere near the getting ‘tough on crime’ and ‘law and order’ agenda our current conservative government is addicted to. When ideological concerns trump reality and fact we get the kinds of irrational stands that Harper’s government is (in)famous for (Climate Change, Environment and the Oilsands etc).
Currently, these offenders are often managed in segregation units where they can be isolated for prolonged periods of time, a practice that is “unsafe and inhumane,” Saper said.
Ah, let us get back to the good ‘ole days:
Ah, let us get back to the good ‘ole days:
An excellent environment for rehabilitation...
Stay tuned for the Harper government to ignore the following:
Among the recommendations Saper made based on the report are that the correctional service should:
- Fund implementation of its mental health strategy, with a particular focus on intermediate care.
- Develop mental health service delivery partnerships with the provinces and territories.
- Enhance its support of the development of a national strategy for corrections and mental health, with a focus on care guidelines.
Needs more cowbell punishment! Being soft on these criminals is out of the question!
I like it when people on TV are right. :) I’ve already talked about Germ Theory Denial in a previous post, more of the here, but P&T do a great job on destructing and deconstructing the foolishness that people engage in.
Orac has a few qualms, but agrees mostly with what P&T have to say.
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Mystro
The Arbourist
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