#just finished collecting a fecal sample

[queen-mabs-revenge]

every time i've said 'yeah idk it's just the whole feeding every four hours, waking up in the middle of the night, cleaning up poo and spit up and all that, it's not really for me, yanno?' is being revisited on me with a vengeance

[kaijutegu]

This is a really good question! Here's what will happen after New Girl gets here.

First, I leave her mostly alone for a couple of days. I give her constant access to fresh water, but I don't feed until Day 3. This gives her time to get settled and acclimated; the stress of the move can cause GI distress, so for the first couple of days, nothing in the stomach. The stress from regurgitation would be more detrimental than the stress of being hungry. Day 3, some nice, digestible food: egg. Day 4, we start introducing greens. Day 5, we have our first vet check!

Now hopefully there's some poop on Day 4, because this is a wild-caught animal, and she will have worms; that's just a given. When you eat raw, rotting meat in the wild, you get worms. My trapper doses them all with Panacur when he catches them, but the fecal sample will have more information on what specific parasites are present and what else is needed. If no poop for the vet check, that's ok, just collect some whenever it happens and take it on over and they'll do the fecal when they can.

At the vet check, they'll do a blood draw and a full blood panel. The vet will palpate all over, feeling for lumps and masses, and they may do some imaging. With a Florida feral, one thing you don't have to worry about is metabolic bone disease, so an x-ray might not be necessary. However, an ultrasound is a good idea with females. New Girl is very young and likely didn't have a partner during the last breeding season, but it's worth it to have a look at the reproductive tract to make sure there aren't any red flags or weird masses.

The vet will also do the standard exam stuff- listen to the lungs, check the reflexes, listen to the heart. They will also check tongue flicks and try to do a visual dental exam. That might not happen at the first visit, though! One of the things I had Kaiju trained to do was let me open her mouth. A voluntary open mouth behavior is something I really want to teach New Girl.

After the vet check, she'll still be on a fairly limited diet, variety-wise, until she's eliminating consistently and we've finished the inevitable course of meds. If all goes well, we'll do a course of fecal tests to ensure that any active parasite infection is gone, and then it'll be annual checkups from there on out!

[orangeoctopi7]

No More McDonalds for You

@forduary Sorry this is so late, I kinda completely changed my idea half-way through, and I’ve been busy with work. Anyway, here’s my last entry for Forduary this year. Now I can get back to focusing on the SpiderStan AU!

(Content warning: This fic is about getting food poisoning and all the gross stuff that comes with that. You have been warned)

It all started one fine day when they stopped in a port on a small island off the coast of Canada. As usual, Ford bought himself whatever sounded the most interesting from whatever weird street vendor or hole-in-the-wall eatery he could find. But Stan spotted a McDonalds and, deciding he missed good old American fast food, ordered himself a Big Mac and one of those breakfast sandwich things, just because he could. After their meal Stan challenged his brother to a burping contest and won by a landslide. And if Stan’s burps were accompanied by a little indigestion, well, that was just the price you paid for a good cheap burger sometimes.

The following morning Stan made Stancakes for breakfast, but he didn’t seem interested in finishing his. He claimed he was still full after his burger last night, and used his leftovers as bait for his fishing hook.

Throughout the day Stan continued to burp loudly and frequently, as well as pass gas just as often. At first, Ford thought his brother was purposely being as obnoxious as possible, probably as revenge after Ford outed his cheating at poker a few days ago. But come lunch time, Stan didn’t eat a single one of the fish he’d caught, and for dinner all he had was a bowl of rice and a thin mint. The old researcher  also noticed that Stan was drinking a lot more water than usual. Perhaps his brother was finally taking his hydration seriously. Or perhaps he wasn’t feeling well.

“Something you eat not agree with you?” Ford asked that evening.

“Uh, nah, just heartbu-URP!” Stan’s rationalization was cut off by another enormous belch. “I meant to do that.”

“Uh-huh. And you’re not sitting like that because your stomach’s upset?”

“I always slouch like this!”

“You’re slouching much more than you normally do, your stomach is completely horizontal!”

Stan sat up a little straighter, then burped again. Ford stared cooly at him. The old con man avoided making eye contact by taking another long drink from his water bottle.

“No more McDonalds for you.”

“Oh come on!” Stan complained, followed by a violent fit of sneezing.

Ford raised an eyebrow in concern. “Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine!” Stan insisted. “I just got some heartburn and a bit of a headache. I just stayed up too late last night.”

Frowning, Ford reached out a hand to feel his brother’s forehead. Stan swatted him away.

“I don’t have a fever, poindexter!”

“Well at least take something for your stomach and go to bed early.” Ford turned to their medicine cabinet and pulled out some pills he’d picked up on an alternate earth. “Here, it’s five times more effective than Pepto Bismol.”

Stan rolled his eyes but took the pills and went to bed without further complaint.

That was when Ford knew his brother was really sick.

Despite the pills, Stan got up several times to use the bathroom that night. He didn’t throw up, but each time he really felt like he wanted to. Each time, Ford stood at the bathroom door, ready to help if he was needed. Eventually they both feel asleep for real; Stan slept in until noon. He finally awoke to see his brother had opened one of their last cans of chicken-noodle soup.

“Here,” The old researcher offered, “I figured you might be tired of fish.”

Stan just groaned and pulled his head under the blankets like a turtle. “Don’t wanna eat.”

“That’s fine. I can reheat it for you when you feel up to eating again.” Ford set the bowl down on the nearest table. “Can I take your temperature now?”

Stan really didn’t have the energy to protest, but he wasn’t gonna cooperate either. So he just continued to lay in his hammock. Ford sighed, peeled the blankets back, and held the back of his hand to his brother’s forehead.

“No fever.” He tisked. “But that isn’t really a sign of anything. Open your mouth please.”

Stan opened his mouth wide and Ford stuck a swab into his cheek. As his mouth reached its widest point, Stan suddenly sneezed again, spitting the swab out in the process. Ford looked down at his snot-covered hand, grabbed another swab, and used it to wipe off the mess.

“I suppose that works too.” He stuck the swabs into separate tubes and stood. “I’m just going to run some tests on these at my work station, I promise I’ll be nearby if you need anything. Oh, and let me know the next time you need to use the bathroom, I want to take a stool sample.”

Stan gave a disgusted groan.

“I just want to know what’s making you sick! I’m worried about you! If whatever this is hasn’t run its course yet, it could be serious.”

“Jus’ a cheap burger” Stan moaned.

“Yes, well, depending on the species of bacteria in said cheap burger, you could be dealing with a serious gastrointestinal infection. And the best way to determine exactly what kind of infection you have is with a stool sample.”

“Nuh-uh” The old con man shook his head weakly. “I can ride it out. Done it before.”

This particular protest sparked a train of thought in Ford’s mind. Of course Stan wasn’t used to being taken care of when he was ill, he’d been on his own for the past forty-something years. Ford could certainly relate. He could count on one hand the times he’d been taken care of while he was sick or injured beyond the portal, and a few of those times had been because he was considered property. If Stan had been anything like him, he likely hadn’t ever had anyone to help or look after him with a “minor” sickness like food poisoning. But things were different now. They could look after each other. Perhaps Stan’s resistance was a matter of pride.

“Stanley, I know you’ve had to take care of yourself for a long time. I’ve been in similar circumstances. But you’re not alone anymore. Please, let me help you.”

Stan shifted in his hammock and looked directly at his brother. “I know I’m not alone.” He said solemnly, taking his brother’s hand in his own and squeezing it. “You just being here helps more than any medicine.”

Ford squeezed his hand back. “I’m glad my mere presence comforts you, but that really isn’t enough to eliminate a bacterial infection.”

Stan took on a more joking tone. “Alright, fine. Swab my mouth, take my temperature, stick me with all the needles you got, but don’t ask me for a stool sample. That’s too gross, even for me.”

“Oh for the love of… Stan, it’s the easiest and most straightforward way to determine exactly what’s making you sick!”

“Nope.”

“What do you mean, nope? Would you rather I pump your stomach?”

“Maybe.”

“No you don’t.” Ford answered for him, “It’s like torture.”

“Why can’t you just use the spit and snot you just got?”

“While those are perfectly good for determining the microbial culture of your mouth or nose, that’s not the source of your illness.”

Stan squirmed in his hammock, making a series of disgusted faces. “You’re just gonna keep pestering me until you get it, huh?”

“Absolutely.”

Stan gave one last overdramatic moan and rolled himself out of the hammock.

“You don’t have to do it right now!” Ford protested.

“Let’s get this over with.” The old con man slowly trudged his way to the bathroom. “You got a cup or something you want me to crap in?”

“I have a biohazard bag that should suffice.” The old researcher dashed back to his lab, deposited the samples he’d already collected, and grabbed the bag in question. When he came back, Stan was leaning tiredly against the doorframe to the bathroom. He took the bag without comment and slammed the door.

A minute later, the door opened a crack, and Stan shoved the now full bag into his brother’s waiting hands.

“Here, do your gross experiments.”

“This is for your own good!” Ford reminded his brother as the door slammed shut again.

“You’re a sick man, Stanford!”

“You’re going to thank me later when I develop a targeted antibiotic that cures you within a few hours!”

“I’m going to shower for a few hours. It’s gonna take me that long to feel clean again.”

Ford rolled his eyes and brought the stool sample back to his lab. First he put on a mask and gloves, opened the bag, and swabbed a bit of fecal matter into a waiting tube. This tube, along with the ones containing the saliva and mucus samples, went into an incubator of his own design. He’d been using it to observe the growth of anomalous microbes; the sort of glowing moss and algae that tended to grow around magical places. Hopefully it would also serve to grow a culture of bacteria from Stan’s body and help Ford isolate exactly what was making his brother sick.

He could hear Stan starting up the shower as he waited for the incubator. He had to shake his head. His brother had no problem reaching into a seabear’s mouth or punching a kraken in the eye, but apparently anything to do with his own bodily waste was going too far. Oh well. Stan had cooperated in the end, and now the sample was being analysed.

-_-_-

Stan had exaggerated his time in the shower. He’d certainly felt like he wanted to spend a few hours in there, especially when the hot water first hit him. It felt great. But he knew the hot water wouldn’t last. He had twenty minutes, tops. At first he fully intended to use every second of that twenty minutes, but he was still pretty sick, and soon he felt like he couldn’t stand any longer. He sat down with a thump on the floor of the shower stall and just enjoyed the hot water raining down for a moment before remembering that it wasn’t going to stay hot for long. The old con man quickly finished washing up, climbed out of the shower, dried off with a hot towel, and changed into some warm pajamas. He was practically asleep on his feet as he climbed back into his hammock and tried to get comfortable despite his churning stomach.

It felt like just a few seconds later when Ford gently shook him awake.

“Here, I’ve developed an antibiotic.” Ford offered him a couple of medium-sized capsule.

“Already?” Stan grunted. “How long was I out?”

“Six hours, I think. Not that I was timing you.”

The old con man took the pills with a glass of water, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

Ford smiled and climbed into his own hammock. It’d been a long day. Hopefully, Stan would be all better by morning.

[3ezentrum3-blog]

How to Collect a Fecal Sample

Ordinarily, customers call us with worries about their pets' defecations. Some of the time, the objection might be loose bowels or an adjustment in ordinary consistency or recurrence. Here and there, a worm-like protest might be watched. Whatever the worry, if your pet isn't really debilitated, we may request that you present to us a feces test. In the present article we will furnish you with some supportive pointers on ways you can gather a fecal example from your pet. If it's not too much trouble read the means underneath to acquire an appropriate example.

Foundation

A creature's dung (fecal matter, stool) can give critical data about the capacity of inner organs, including pancreatic and intestinal wellbeing, the nearness of intestinal parasites, and numerous other valuable markers. Consequently, minute assessment of an example of the dung is an imperative, noninvasive test that numerous veterinarians use for recognizing the reasons for specific ailments and gastrointestinal (GI) issue.

Beginning

Materials required for gathering a fecal example include:

Latex therapeutic write gloves (can be bought in a drugstore or drug store)

Plastic ziplock sack or other little, plastic compartment that can be fixed

Plastic dispensable spoon.

When gathering a fecal example, it is imperative to recall that with uncalled for procedure, there is a wellbeing danger to you: if the dung contain an irresistible living being, that living being can be irresistible to individuals. Cases of these irresistible life forms incorporate a few sorts of GI worms, coccidia, Giardia, and Toxoplasma. Most extreme cleanliness is fundamental. Wearing medicinal compose latex exam gloves is suitable for gathering a fecal example, and whether you wear them or not, it is fundamental that you keep away from any shot of fecal-oral transmission of germs. This implies:

Wash your hands instantly in the wake of finishing the accumulation of the example, before contacting your face, garments, or whatever else

Keep the compartment (ziplock pack, other) completely open while storing the example to not pollute the edges

Abstain from bowing or setting strain on the plastic spoon when gathering the example so there is no danger of spreading the example (flicking/sprinkling)

Legitimately done, fecal example gathering is basic, safe, and restoratively essential for your pet.

Investigating Beforehand

For a substantial examination, the excrement ought to be submitted to the veterinarian inside 24 long periods of being passed by the pet, and ideally inside 12 hours. In the event that this isn't conceivable, the example ought to be kept in a cool zone (however not solidified) out of direct daylight.

In multicat or multidog family units, it can be trying to know with conviction which pet created which excrement. For canines, a fundamental initial step is to enable a puppy to poo without different puppies introduce, either on a walk or in an encased zone like a yard. On the off chance that he/she isn't familiar with this, at that point sitting tight for the pet to end up agreeable may take some additional time.

At the point when numerous young doggies live respectively and loose bowels is noted, it can be hard to decide the correct source-which pup has the looseness of the bowels? What's more, is it only one of them or more than one? The least difficult however most tedious approach is to watch the pups until the point that every one has pooed. In the event that this isn't conceivable, an elective approach is to include a little bit of a nontoxic wax pastel in the puppies' sustenance, with an alternate shading for every young doggie. Monitor which shading runs with which little dog, and when the pastel shading is then passed in the runs, the shading distinguishes which young doggie has loose bowels. It is critical to take note of that despite the fact that just a single young doggie may have loose bowels, a veterinarian may prescribe treating all doggies with a dewormer. Little dogs regularly open each other to parasites or secure parasites together during childbirth or in the drain amid nursing.

Before starting, it is essential to take note of that pregnant ladies and any individual with a traded off invulnerable framework, (for example, somebody experiencing chemotherapy) ought not gather fecal examples. Furthermore, due to the danger of presentation to toxoplasmosis in feline fecal examples, pregnant ladies are cautioned by their doctors to have another person in the family unit clean feline litterboxes once every day for the term of their pregnancy. (Toxoplasmosis can be available in a feline's stool even without looseness of the bowels.)

Methodology: How to Collect the Sample

To gather an example from a feline litterbox, scoop the excrement from the litterbox with the dispensable plastic spoon and seal it (with the spoon clinched) in a ziplock pack. It won't hurt the example if some litter is incorporated. On the off chance that the stool is shaped/strong, it might be conceivable essentially to alter the plastic sack back to front, utilize it as a glove to get the dung, and transform it with the excrement inside and seal.

To gather an example from a canine, walk the puppy on-rope outside. Affirm that the excrement test to be gathered is new and not old. Gather the example with a plastic spoon or, if the dung is firm, utilize the reversed plastic sack approach, as portrayed previously. Just a little measure of dung (around 1 tablespoon) is important for generally testing. On the off chance that the example is watery or if the pet has next to no tolerance for rope strolling, it might be vital for one individual to walk the pet and a second individual to gather the example.

A while later

Discard latex gloves and any remaining materials (e.g., plastic spoon on the off chance that you didn't place it in the ziplock pack) fittingly, and wash your hands instantly.

The fresher the fecal example is, the better it is for examination. In a perfect world, an example ought to be inspected at your veterinary healing center inside 4 long stretches of accumulation, however tests that are up to 24 hours old are as yet profitable. In the event that prompt conveyance of the example to the veterinary healing center isn't conceivable, store the fixed compartment in a cool, dry place far from daylight and convey inside 24 hours. At that point discard the latex gloves and paper towels suitably.

Choices and Their Relative Merits

Fecal examination is the least difficult test for assessing a puppy or feline's intestinal manifestations like loose bowels. Up to three investigations may must be performed to distinguish a parasite, in light of the fact that the parasite eggs might be shed just irregularly. On the off chance that a fecal examination is negative (no parasites or parasite eggs seen), additionally testing might be required if the issue endures for a considerable length of time or more and does not react to starting treatment. Such tests can incorporate stomach ultrasound (to look at the structure of the digestive organs), blood tests (to assess general capacity of the liver, kidneys, platelets, pancreas, and different organs), x-beams (to demonstrate the position and extents of the inward organs), and intestinal biopsy, either by means of endoscopy or medical procedure.

Much of the time Asked Questions

My puppy just goes outside to urinate and poop. By what means can he/she have GI worms or parasites?

The eggs of worms and parasites are tiny and can't be seen. They are helped and passed on to pets through the stool of untamed life, and along these lines, a puppy takes in the worm eggs while sniffing the ground. These same eggs likewise are regularly passed from mother to little dog during childbirth or in the drain amid nursing.

My pet is on a month to month dewormer. For what reason did my vet suggest a fecal investigation?

Not every single irresistible living being are worms. A pet can be on a month to month dewormer and still be presented to different parasites (like protozoa) that reason loose bowels. Furthermore, there are different purposes behind looking at a fecal example past parasites, including fecal compounds and microbes, that can clarify a pet's indications and recognize the best treatment.

My pet's loose bowels is extremely watery. How might I gather it? It is best to gather it specifically from the beginning floor (or litter, for felines' litterboxes) quickly after it has been passed. Utilize the system depicted above, remembering that 1 tablespoonful is normally adequate, and that some pollution with soil or litter is worthy. On the other hand, your veterinarian may need to keep your pet in the doctor's facility, normally medium-term, to gather the example fundamental for testing

Article gave by: Dr. Edward Nichols of Crestway Animal Clinic

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/master/Dr._Edward_Nichols/1305943

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6946620

[sherristockman]

Chicken Meat Linked to Drug-Resistant UTI Epidemic Dr. Mercola By Dr. Mercola In the 2013 report “Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States” issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 18 superbugs were identified as “urgent, serious and concerning threats” to humankind.1 The majority of these dangerous bacteria are in the gram-negative category, as they are equipped with body armor that makes them particularly resistant to the immune response. Most disturbing of all, an increasing number of bacteria are now exhibiting “panresistance,” 2 which means they’re resistant to every antibiotic in existence. The emergence of E. coli carrying the drug-resistant mcr-1 gene is also major cause for worry. While this bacterium is most commonly thought of in terms of food poisoning, a form of E. coli known as ExPEC (which stands for extra-intestinal pathogenic E. coli) is responsible for over 90 percent of urinary tract infections (UTIs).3 Beware — 10 Percent of UTIs Are Drug-Resistant Interestingly, while conventional wisdom has maintained that UTIs are primarily caused by sexual contact with an infected individual and/or the transferring of fecal bacteria from your anus to your urethra, research has linked drug-resistant UTIs to contaminated chicken meat.4 This is not a surprise once you realize that over 80 percent of the antibiotics used in the U.S. are given to animals raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and it’s rare for commercial chickens to not be raised in a CAFO environment. Scientists have indeed warned that infectious disease could potentially spread through the food supply, and when it comes to UTIs, DNA matching overwhelmingly supports this hypothesis. In other words, many UTIs are caused by zoonosis, meaning animal to human disease transfer.5,6,7 Of the 8 million UTIs occurring in the U.S. each year, an estimated 10 percent — some 800,000 — are resistant to antibiotics. Drug resistance has become common enough that doctors are now advised to test for drug resistance before prescribing an antibiotic for a UTI. Drug Resistant Bacteria Can Turn Urinary Tract Infections Deadly The mcr-1 gene was discovered in pigs and people in China in 2015.8,9,10 It’s a mutated gene that confers rapid resistance to the drug colistin — an antibiotic of last resort due to its potency and nasty side effects. Its DNA also contains seven other genes that confer resistance against other antibiotics. Researchers have warned that the features of mcr-1 “suggest the progression from extensive drug resistance to pan drug resistance11 [i.e., bacteria resistant to all treatment] is inevitable,” and this threat is a global one.12 Indeed, in less than one year, mcr-1-carrying E.coli was identified in several parts of the world, including a U.S. slaughterhouse pork sample and an American patient admitted with an E. coli infection.13,14,15 Writing for National Geographic, Maryn McKenna reported:16 “The woman who was carrying an E. coli containing resistance to the last-resort antibiotic colistin went for medical care because she had what felt like a routine urinary tract infection, a UTI for short … A small, dedicated corps of researchers has been trying for years to emphasize that these infections represent a serious danger, an unexamined conduit of bacterial resistance from agriculture and meat into the human population, and have mostly been dismissed … Colistin was seldom used in people until recently because it is toxic, but agriculture has been using it enthusiastically for decades, which has seeded resistance through the bacterial world. And those highly drug-resistant bacteria are turning up in urinary-tract infections. Why UTIs? Because E. coli bacteria are carried in feces, which can easily spread to the urethra and cause urinary-tract infections, especially in women … [W]hen UTIs go untreated — which is effectively what happens when the antibiotic administered for them doesn’t work — they climb up the urinary system from the bladder, into the kidneys, and thence into the bloodstream. At that point, the minor problem becomes literally life-threatening.” DNA Matching Proves UTI Superbug Can Spread Via Contaminated Chicken Meat As mentioned, a number of mcr-1-related infections in humans have been linked to consumption of contaminated meat. For example, the gene was detected in the blood of a Danish patient in late 2015, and mcr-1 was also found in five poultry samples purchased in Denmark that were imported from Germany between 2012 and 2014.17 Again, part of the problem goes back to the fact that antibiotics — including colistin, in the case of Chinese poultry production — have remained widely used in agriculture for growth promotion purposes, allowing resistance to develop. This despite the fact that agricultural use of antibiotics has been suspected of causing human infections since at least 2001. As early as 2005 papers were published showing drug-resistant E. coli strains from supermarket meat matched strains found in human E. coli infections.18 As reported by The Atlantic in 2012:19 “[T]he origin of these newly resistant E. coli has been a mystery — except to a small group of researchers in several countries. They contend there is persuasive evidence that the bacteria are coming from poultry. More precisely, coming from poultry raised with the routine use of antibiotics … Their research20,21,22 in the United States, Canada, and Europe … has found close genetic matches between resistant E. coli collected from human patients and resistant strains found on chicken or turkey sold in supermarkets or collected from birds being slaughtered. The researchers contend that poultry … is the bridge that allows resistant bacteria to move to humans, taking up residence in the body and sparking infections when conditions are right. Touching raw meat that contains the resistant bacteria, or coming into environmental contact with it — say, by eating lettuce that was cross-contaminated — are easy ways to become infected.” Flies and Contaminated Manure May Also Spread Drug Resistant Gene Aside from consumption of contaminated meat, flies have also been identified as a carrier of the mcr-1 gene. According to PBS:23 “Flies at poultry farms in China were loaded with bacteria containing genes for antibiotic resistance, the team discovered. The same team also found E. coli containing mcr-1, a gene that imparts resistance to colistin, an antibiotic of last resort, in 1 percent of hospital patients in two of China’s large cities, neither of which have a history of using colistin to treat humans. They also discovered in the hospitals genes that offer resistance to carbapenems, another class of last-resort antibiotics. Researchers think the flies carried the bacteria from farms to cities, where they transmitted the bacteria to humans. Carriers like these flies could be more commonplace, suggesting the need for experts to keep a watchful eye on superbugs’ paths.” For over a decade we’ve also known antibiotic-resistant bacteria are present in agricultural soils, typically deposited there via contaminated manure and/or so-called biosolids (toxic sewage waste),24 and this is yet another route into the food system. Sadly, even organic gardeners may inadvertently contaminate their home garden by applying potting soil with biosolids. Researchers at the University of Southampton are trying to understand the situation better by studying “how antimicrobial resistance is introduced into natural soil bacteria, for example from manures applied by farmers or exposure to domesticated or wild animal and bird fecal droppings, and how this transfer takes place in different soil types.”25 To Protect Your Health, Avoid Antibiotics — Both in Medicine and Food — and Practice Safe Hygiene The use of low-dose antibiotics allows meat producers to add weight on animals for less money because they make feed absorption more efficient. The drugs also help prevent disease outbreaks in the crowded and unsanitary housing conditions that concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are notorious for. But just how high a price are we willing to pay for cheaper meat? Tens of thousands of Americans now die each year from drug-resistant infections, many of which clearly appear to be spread through our food supply. Some chicken producers have started reining in or eliminating medically unnecessary antibiotics in their production, but not all. Sanderson Farms for example, which is the third-largest poultry producer in the U.S., has refused to even acknowledge the risks associated with the practice. They are a reprehensible company; they market themselves as “all natural” even though they load up their chickens with antibiotics. And, while experts have urged the food industry to cease use of antibiotics, data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggests agricultural use is actually increasing rather than decreasing. According to the FDA’s 2014 Summary Report on Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food-Producing Animals,26 domestic sales and distribution of cephalosporins for food-producing animals rose by 57 percent between 2009 through 2014. So, what can you do to protect yourself? Three key steps are to: Avoid antibiotics unless absolutely necessary, and remember antibiotics do NOT work for viral infections Avoid all meats raised with antibiotics. Your best bet is organic grass fed and grass-finished beef and organic pastured poultry raised without antibiotics. This is a serious issue, so if you chose to eat meat, make sure it’s antibiotic-free Practice good personal hygiene. This includes carefully washing your hands before and after you handle raw chicken, making sure to wash between your fingers and under your nails, and be sure to wash any utensils and kitchen counters when done. Ideally, use separate cutting boards for meats and vegetables to avoid cross-contamination How to Treat UTIs Without Antibiotics You've probably heard that drinking cranberry juice can be helpful in supporting a healthy urinary tract and can help flush out a UTI. However, most cranberry juice is also loaded with fructose, which tends to promote health problems when consumed in high amounts. For this reason, I don’t recommend drinking cranberry juice when you have an infection. Since your immune system is already taxed, adding fructose into the mix is inadvisable. A far better alternative is pure D-mannose, which is the active ingredient in cranberry juice responsible for its benefit to your urinary system. It can also be derived from berries, peaches, apples and other plants. Pure D-mannose is 10 to 50 times stronger than cranberry and has been shown to cure over 90 percent of UTIs within one to two days. It’s nontoxic and completely safe, with no adverse effects. I also recommend trying D-mannose before you resort to antibiotics, to avoid killing off beneficial bacteria. Digestive problems and secondary yeast infections are common side effects of antibiotics. D-mannose doesn't actually kill bacteria — it just renders them unable to stay in your urinary tract. The cell walls of E. coli are covered with tiny fingerlike projections called fimbria, made of a glycoprotein called lectin that makes them sticky. This allows them to cling to the inner walls of your bladder and even work their way upward to your ureter and kidneys. The lectin on the bacteria's fimbria binds to mannose, which naturally covers the internal lining of your urinary organs. This is why they’re so difficult to flush out. When you take D-mannose, the E. coli suddenly find mannose molecules present not only on the surface of your epithelial cells, but also in the urine. As they latch on to the mannose in your urine, they are easily expelled through your urine. To help flush the bacteria out, be sure to drink plenty of clean, pure water to encourage plentiful urination. To alleviate the burning sensation, dissolve 1 teaspoon of baking soda in 8 ounces of water and drink the whole glass first thing in the morning. Its alkaline nature can help neutralize or lessen the acidity of your urine, thereby making urination less uncomfortable. Pay Attention to Symptoms of Kidney Infection and Sepsis While D-mannose has a track record of working quickly and effectively in most cases, with the advent of drug-resistant bacteria, be sure to take any UTI seriously and watch for signs and symptoms of kidney infection and/or sepsis, both of which will require medical attention. Kidney infections can cause permanent kidney damage and kidney failure if not promptly resolved, or can spread to your bloodstream, leading to sepsis (blood poisoning). One-quarter of sepsis cases are in fact related to UTIs. In addition to the classic UTI symptoms — which include burning with urination, frequent urge to urinate, lower abdominal pain, cloudy or bloody urine — symptoms of kidney infection can include: Fever Back, side (flank) or groin pain Abdominal pain Constant thirst Signs of sepsis, which can quickly become lethal if left untreated, include the following: Fever; chills Shortness of breath; rapid breathing Increased heart rate Diarrhea Vomiting Rash Pain Disorientation; confusion If you have any of these symptoms, get immediate medical help and let them know you could potentially have sepsis. If it’s after hours, go to the emergency room. Again, be sure to inform the staff you may have sepsis, as time is of the essence when it comes to treatment. If that fails to incite a rapid response on their part, be assertive and insist on quick action, which would ideally include a combination of intravenous (IV) vitamin C, thiamine (vitamin B1) and hydrocortisone (a steroid). This treatment was developed by Dr. Paul Marik, chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in East Virginia, and has become the standard of care in that facility. Giving septic patients this simple IV cocktail for two days has been shown to reduce mortality nearly fivefold, from 40 percent to 8.5 percent. For more information, please see “Vitamin C — A Game Changer in Treatment of Deadly Sepsis.”