Saturday 6 September 2008

Viruses: An Idiot's Guide

For a bunch of student nurses the contents of my flat seem to have missed the concept of virus / infection.

First up what ever strain of cold is going around is strong (or my immune system is weak but it seems to have infected everyone I've come into contact with too, however).
Second - you live in the same flat as me. We share the same facilities (toilets, showers, kitchen, etc.) so no matter good I am with the alcohol hand gel / hand washing / covering my mouth when I sneeze, you are gonna catch some of these little bugs!
Third - NO ANTIBIOTIC IN THE WORLD WILL CURE A COLD! Colds are not bacterial infections ergo an antibiotic will not help. This kind of behaviour is why we have so many resistant infections going around (hmmm MRSA anyone?). This over prescription is nuts.
Forth - don't look at me like I have a third head (we've proved I have a second head I can't see because I get looked at enough!) when I say I haven't taken any drugs. This is because I'm aware that really NOTHING is gonna help the way I feel except for an early night. (except a couple of paracetamol)

Do we understand viruses better now? Good, now let me go cough in peace!

3 comments:

Seratonin said...

A lot of people who don't work in the medical profession think MRSA is down to dirty wards & that you die from it.I'm more bothered by what C Diff can do, or a good old fashioned dose of Norovirus, or anything blood borne.But then that's the OCD within.

WardBunny said...

May of the infection rates are down to the wards not being as clean as they could be but MRSA is special because it's drug resistant, like some strains of TB. We made it this way.

I've worked in hospitals during Norovirus outbreaks and I could write essays on what was done wrong / right.

I have a special high horse just for C. Diff sadly. It's worse than MRSA because it can't be killed with alcohol gel and requires actual hand washing to get rid of it. I think we've all become too dependant on gels to solve the problem of hot having enough time.

Hope I didn't just put fuel on the OCD.

Seratonin said...

Nah don't worry about the OCD.Thankfully the medicaton has cut down on the panic episodes.I can be totally rational about it at times & totally irrationalthe rest of the time.To be honest I wouldn't be working on a surgical ward if I didn't think I could handle it, albeit in a 'support services' position.

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