BootsnAll Travel Community

When I hear people say things like "WOW, Cipro made my day" and "I always use it" and such, I really understand them. Towards the bacteria it´s ment to act, it´s probably the perfect poison.

The thing is that Cipro, or Ciprofloxacin, (as the generical name is) belongs to the kinolon-family of antibiotics. This is a family that nature can´t brake down, resulting in an accumulation of "Cipro" in the ground-water and soil. All the Cipro you eat, will eventually come out when you "take a leak".

Now this is how resistance against antibiotics develops. The bacteria in the the ground are swimming in Cipro and other similar antibiotics. What happens is that only the bacteria that isn´t sensitive to Cipro will survive and grow stronger in this environment. Probably this will result in new threats against humans in the future that we can´t even dream of.

As Rob said, Salmonella Typhi, the bacteria behind Typhoid fever, still isn´t resistant to Cipro. But if we continue to use this valuable antibiotic the way we do, soon it will be !!!

MY ADVICE: Cipro is a fantastic medicine. Don´t make it less fantastic by using it for any gastrointestinal problem you might get !!!

1. If you get sick in your stomach, but without fever, USE IMODIUM / LOPERAMIDE

2. If diaréea + fever, consider antibiotic. Try to use Norfloxacin instead of Ciprofloxacin. It´s exactly as potent against gastrointestinal problems, but less harmful against the environment.
Do NOT use loperamide-like medication if you have fever !!! This slows your stomach down, when what you want is to get rid of a potentially dangerous infection !!!

3. If you have blood in your stool, search medical attention !! Then you have dysenteria which might be caused by something else than a bacteria (amoeba), why antibiotics are of no use.


I think that every traveller who uses Cipro once in a while, really should give this a thought !!

regards,
tt