Fwd: Re: [pct-l] giardia

[Ben Schifrin <benschif@sonnet.com>]

>Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 14:28:25 -0700
>To: Brick Robbins <brick@fastpack.com>
>From: Ben Schifrin <benschif@sonnet.com>
>Subject: Re: [pct-l] giardia
>Cc:
>Bcc:
>X-Attachments:
>
>Brick: good job
>
>>At 09:17 PM 6/5/99 -0700, Barbara Ann Rudlich <rhubarb@dwp.net> wrote:
>>
>>>Flagyl is NOT an antibiotic.
>>
>>Several medical references I have consulted refer to it as an antibiotic,
>>so any distinction you are making is so fine as to be lost on lots of
>>folks who generally seem to know what they are doing. "Prosser,Douglas A"
>>a pharmacist posting from a Kaiser Permanente email address seems to
>>think that it also kills bacteria, which makes an antibiotic, right?
>
>Of course, Flagyl IS an antibiotic.
>
>
>>
>>>>Giardiasis can be defintively confirmed by the presence of the cysts
>>>>encapsulating the protozoa in a stool sample, which is not a difficult
>>>>thing to provide if you have classic symptoms of the parasite
>>>>infestation - pardon the bad joke. <<
>>
>>Once again, I am not a physician, but one I spoke to tonight, who
>>specializes in travel medicine here in San Diego, said that he seldom
>>orders stool sample for Giardia diagnosis because the test easily misses
>>it a significant percentage of the time. He diagnoses based on the
>>symptoms of Giardia, and exposure.
>
>Reasonable strategy-- the higher the clinical likelihood is, the less
>likely we are to do stool tests. There are other =more accurate tests, but
>they still aren't good, and they're more cumbersome.
>
>
>>
>>>Please talk to your doctor about any confusion you may have about
>>>bacteria, cysts, amoeba, or antibiotics. General information websites
>>>are not the best source for medical information.
>>
>>I don't have any confusion. The references I normally use are printed,
>>but they are difficult to refer to in email, so I use websites for
>>reference in this forum.
>
>She is confused.
>
>
>>
>>It looked to me like the pharmacist who posted on this subject indicated
>>that you are confused. Since you are a professional defending a statement
>>you made in a public forum, I don't expect you to change your position,
>>and I don't really care about the technical definition of the class of
>>the drugs in question, so I won't address it again.
>>
>>Lets discuss the use of the drug, not the technical classification.
>>
>>We are just approaching this from different angles. I assume that the
>>hiker is competent, well read and can take responsibility for their own
>>treatment. I couple that  with the extreme difficulty in accessing a
>>physician on the trail, and conclude that self diagnosis and treatment is
>>a reasonable option.
>>
>>You take the more traditional view that the hiker should abdicate the
>>responsibility for his care into "more competent hands." There is room
>>for both views.
>>
>>Brick Robbins
>>who is not a doctor and doesn't even play one on TV
>
>Ben Schifrin-- who is a doctor, and doesn't own a TV.
>
>
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