Can you die from a single kiss? Why yes, yes you can.

Meningitis!!!






We might think that kissing or coughing can have no affect on anyone around us. One of the most common bacterial diseases is transmitted by these two things. Kissing or coughing can lead to the direct infection of a person. The disease I am talking about is Meningitis. It can be very severe and some times can even be fatal.

Meningitis is a disease caused by the inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord known as the meninges. The inflammation is usually caused by an infection of the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord. The infection causes the tissues surrounding the brain to swell. When the tissues are infected the flow of blood is interrupted and can result in paralysis or stroke.(Cleveland Clinic) Spinal Meningitis is one of many types of Meningitis (CDC).

The severity of Meningitis varies depending on which of the different forms of the disease you happen to have. You may have the bacterial form, the viral form, the fungal form, or the parasitic form. It is important to go to the doctor to find out which form you have to be properly treated (CDC).

Bacterial Meningitis is the most common form of the disease. About 80% of the cases are acute bacterial meningitis. Bacterial meningitis is usually caused by the bacteria in the environment. However the bacteria can be found living in our nose and respiratory system without causing any harm(Cleveland Clinic).

The people that are most at risk for getting bacterial meningitis are children between the ages of one month and two years old, and adults with certain risk factors such as; alcohol abuse, chronic nose and ear infections, weakened immune system, spleen removal, sickle cell disease, brain, head, or spinal injury, and a widespread blood infection(Cleveland Clinic).

The symptoms of Bacterial Meningitis are very similar to those of the flu. It starts with a sudden onset of a fever, headache, and stiff neck. It is also usually accompanied by nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light, and an altered mental status(CDC). In young children fever may cause vomiting, they might become very irritated and cry. Seizures may also occur. The fluid gathering around their brain may make their head swell as well. The onset of symptoms may occur as quickly as 24 hours later, if left untreated bacterial meningitis can be fatal(Cleveland Clinic).

This disease can be diagnosed by the doctor looking for a purple or red rash on the skin. He or she will also check your neck for stiffness and will examine knee and hip flexion. In addition the doctor will have to decide whether you have bacterial, fungal, or viral meningitis. To do this he or she will analyze your spinal fluid by means of a spinal tap procedure. The doctor may also order tests to check your blood, urine, and the mucus from your nose and throat(Cleveland Clinic).

Bacterial meningitis is treated with antibiotics. Your doctor may prescribe a general intravenous antibiotic with a corticosteroid to reduce inflammation even before all the test results are in. When the specific bacteria are identified, your doctor may decide to change antibiotics. It will also be important to replenish fluids lost from sweating, vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of appetite(Cleveland Clinic).

This disease can be transmitted by the exchange of respiratory and throat secretions usually by kissing or coughing(CDC).

"Hand Sanitizers, Good or Bad?"

Dear Author,

We all use hand sanitizers almost everyday in our very busy lives. Who has time to stop and wash their hands with good old soap and water? But as it turns out our beloved hand sanitizers may not be good enough. In reality we do not really need hand sanitizer at all. The more we use it the more we are going to cause bacteria to become resistant to it.

"Hand Sanitizers, Good or Bad" makes a good case as to why hand sanitizers with over 60% alcohol are good and helpful, but what they fail to mention is all the other effects hand sanitizers have on our bodies. We need to go back to the good old days when plain old soap and water was good enough to prevent microbes from becoming resistant to everything we have. If this happens we are going to be in more trouble than if we hadn't used hand sanitizer in the first place!

In the article "Hand Sanitizers, Good or Bad", the experiment done by Mr. Reynolds showed most of the sanitizers we use are not killing microbes at all, rather they mobilize the bacteria, spreading them around the hand instead of killing them"(Franklin pg.1). The hand sanitizer the students used in the experiment only contained 40% ethyl alcohol. With anything less than this the microbes are not being killed properly. We cannot continue using hand sanitizers with higher alcohol volumes because eventually nothing is going to work. The researchers in the article do say that using soap and water in the best option, but I think we need to avoid hand sanitizers as much as possible. The public needs to realize even though they think they are helping by "washing" their hands constantly with hand sanitizers they could still possibly be spreading microbes because they did not kill them.

I can see where the public is coming from by trying to keep themselves perfectly clean all the time, but some microbes are needed to help maintain our immune systems. If we constantly clean our environment we are never going to give our bodies a chance to come in contact with all the microbes in the world. The children of the last couple of generations are going to have weaker immune systems because they have not been exposed to the microbes in the first place. The hand sanitizers are going to create super microbes that can live through anything thrown at them. Eventually if we continue using higher and higher concentrations of alcohol the bacteria are going to become resistant to all of the hand sanitizers.

Sincerely, Julie

Microbes: Are you ready to find out what might be living on YOU?

Staphylococcus epidermidis is one of the microbes that might be living on your skin! It can also live in your mucous membranes! This little bacterium is actually not very pathogenic. This little guy likes to infect people with weak immune systems, and people are most likely going to come in contact with this microbe in a community place or at a hospital. This microbe is something to be worried about for people with catheters because that is a very susceptible place for a biofilm to form.
How do you get Staphylococcus epidermidis you may ask? As it turns out we actually carry the bacteria on our skin all the time, the problem arises when it gets into our body and starts reproducing and causing the infection. Staphylococcus aureus produces several exotoxins. Staphylococcus is commonly found on the skin and in the nasal passages. If the bacterium enters the body it can cause serious disease. One of the exotoxins produced by S.aureus can cause layers of skin to slough off; another of the exotoxins causes potentially deadly toxic shock syndrome. Food may also be contaminated with S.aureus exotoxins, which are so potent that less than a microgram causes vomiting and diarrhea (Campbell).

Three things you didn’t know about Staphylococcus epidermidis!

#1 Almost every organ can be infected by Staphylococcus.

# 2 S. epidermidis does not usually cause infections, except in people with any type of indwelling catheter or implanted device.

#3 Staph is a very hardy bacterium. It is gram-positive and arranged in grape-like clusters.

Now that we know those awesome facts about Staphylococcus epidermidis, let’s talk about the environment where these microbes actually live, the SKIN!

The skin supports its own ecosystems of microorganisms, including yeasts and bacteria, which cannot be removed by any amount of cleaning. Estimates place the number of individual bacteria on the surface of one square inch of human skin at 50 million, though this figure varies greatly over the average 20 square feet of human skin. Oily surfaces, such as the face, may contain over 500 million bacteria per square inch. Despite these vast quantities, all of the bacteria found on the skin's surface would fit into a volume the size of a pea(Odland).

The microorganisms keep one another in check and are part of a healthy skin. When the balance is disturbed, there may be an overgrowth and infection, such as when antibiotics kill microbes, resulting in an overgrowth of yeast. The skin is continuous with the inner epithelial lining of the body at the orifices, each of which supports its own complement of microbes(Odland).

The skin is composed of three primary layers: the epidermis, which provides waterproofing and serves as a barrier to infection; the dermis, which serves as a location for the appendages of skin; and the hypodermis (subcutaneous adipose layer). The skin also contains the hair follicles, cold and heat receptors, the sebaceous glands, and the dermal papillae that determine what our fingerprints look like(Odland).