More Antibiotic Misuse?

From cycling news:

"Christophe Moreau (Cr=E9dit Agricole) will not start at this year's
Paris-Nice due to a heavy cold, forcing him to take antibiotics."

Do euros simply refer to most oral medication as a catch- all
'antibiotics' category?

On 1 Mar 2005 06:20:48 -0800, "
wrote:

"Christophe Moreau (Crédit Agricole) will not start at this year's
Paris-Nice due to a heavy cold, forcing him to take antibiotics."

Do euros simply refer to most oral medication as a catch- all
'antibiotics' category?

Could be the other way, using 'cold' as a catch-all. What I just had
was a massive sinus infection that did require antibiotics
(interestingly, they asked that I stop using them shortly after the
symptoms cleared up and to bring back the rest of the prescription to
be kiln destroyed - and it was simple stuff). My first reaction was
that I had a really bad cold. I ignored it until it became one hell of
a bad 'cold'.

When your nose has been broken about 8-10 times, sinus infections are
really a pain.

Actually, now that I said that, I'm not exactly sure what a cold is.
Its always been one of those things that you figure is either the flu
or a cold and you try to pick the right answer. Or take the easy way
out and let first your mother and then your wife tell you.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

Curtis L. Russell wrote:

When your nose has been broken about 8-10 times...

is this related to a personality trait?

:rollyeyes:

On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 10:00:48 -0500, gym gravity
wrote:

When your nose has been broken about 8-10 times...

is this related to a personality trait?

:rollyeyes:

Nah. Actually a fairly wide variety of different reasons. But you'd
think that by the fourth or fifth break, it would be harder to hit,
what with it being significantly closer to the rest of my face.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

"Curtis L. Russell" wrote:

On 1 Mar 2005 06:20:48 -0800, "
wrote:

"Christophe Moreau (Crédit Agricole) will not start at this year's
Paris-Nice due to a heavy cold, forcing him to take antibiotics."

Do euros simply refer to most oral medication as a catch- all
'antibiotics' category?

Could be the other way, using 'cold' as a catch-all. What I just had
was a massive sinus infection that did require antibiotics
(interestingly, they asked that I stop using them shortly after the
symptoms cleared up and to bring back the rest of the prescription to
be kiln destroyed - and it was simple stuff). My first reaction was
that I had a really bad cold. I ignored it until it became one hell of
a bad 'cold'.

When your nose has been broken about 8-10 times, sinus infections are
really a pain.

Actually, now that I said that, I'm not exactly sure what a cold is.
Its always been one of those things that you figure is either the flu
or a cold and you try to pick the right answer. Or take the easy way
out and let first your mother and then your wife tell you.


A cold is a virus, for which antibiotics do nothing. However, colds can form
the environ for the development of sinusitus (sp?) or bronchitis (bacteria).
Bacteria can sometimes be killed by antibiotics. Some bacteria is apparently
highly resistant.

There is no proven benefit for taking antibiotics in bronchitis. Ditto
for colds and 'flu. The evidence for benefit in middle ear infections
or Strep throat infections is marginal at best.

The number of resistant bacteria is frequently overcalled. Many labs
report that "X"% of bacteria "Y" that they have collected show
resistance. Often this figure is skewed by getting repeated samples
from one patient or else by inexact identification of bacteria. Also,
drug companies often have a hand in this to promote their newer, more
expensive drug. But if you look at the % of patients with a condition
such as pneumonia that have disease caused by a resistant bacterium,
the number is far, far smaller. Countries such as Denmark & the
Netherlands rarely use antibiotics stronger than penicillin,
amoxycillin or erythromycin and consequently they have extremely low
rates of resistant bacteria.

Back to the original post, it is remarkable how often we see this
amongst the pro-cyclists. Probably the doctors are just being weak and
giving antibiotics to feel like they are doing something - albeit with
little or no benefit, and possible risk!

"Curtis L. Russell" wrote in message
...

When your nose has been broken about 8-10 times, sinus infections are
really a pain.

Geez Curt, are you really THAT offensive?

Patricio Carlos wrote:

There is no proven benefit for taking antibiotics in bronchitis. Ditto
for colds and 'flu. The evidence for benefit in middle ear infections
or Strep throat infections is marginal at best.

The number of resistant bacteria is frequently overcalled. Many labs
report that "X"% of bacteria "Y" that they have collected show
resistance. Often this figure is skewed by getting repeated samples
from one patient or else by inexact identification of bacteria. Also,
drug companies often have a hand in this to promote their newer, more
expensive drug. But if you look at the % of patients with a condition
such as pneumonia that have disease caused by a resistant bacterium,
the number is far, far smaller. Countries such as Denmark & the
Netherlands rarely use antibiotics stronger than penicillin,
amoxycillin or erythromycin and consequently they have extremely low
rates of resistant bacteria.

Back to the original post, it is remarkable how often we see this
amongst the pro-cyclists. Probably the doctors are just being weak and
giving antibiotics to feel like they are doing something - albeit with
little or no benefit, and possible risk!

I bet a dollar "antibiotic" regimes are a cover for a doping regime.

On Wed, 02 Mar 2005 03:32:27 GMT, "Tom Kunich"
wrote:

When your nose has been broken about 8-10 times, sinus infections are
really a pain.

Geez Curt, are you really THAT offensive?

For the record:

My high school girlfriend apologized for hitting me with her elbow.
The drill sergeant apologized for hitting me with the butt of the M16
(and he wasn't supposed to be using a real rifle anyway)
The marine apologized for hitting me in 9 man football (this is only
organized destruction anyway)
OK, I wasn't expecting him to toss the beer can - my roommate in
college apologized for that, too. And it wasn't even a good beer.

Those who didn't apologize:

My brother, but we're even now.
The marine at the bar
The kid in highschool - I think he lost, but it was close
The ground - everyone else breaks collarbones in bike racing, I
managed to break my nose.

And there were two times that I showed how flexible it was and moved
it from one side to the other. The first time it was flexible. The
second time it was not, but it did move. I never repeated this
demonstration...

So I'm at 50%, if you believe my former girlfriend.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

Curtis L. Russell wrote:
So I'm at 50%, if you believe my former girlfriend.

Sounds like breaking your nose works almost as well as taking EPO. I trust
you have found a way to regulate the dose so as to get 49% instead of 50.