Mexico Medical Student |

This excerpt from an article entitled Hand Washing 101:

WebMD Medical Reference [?!!?]
Reviewed by Michael W. Smith, MD

Just how important is washing your hands? Well, imagine this scenario: Your younger sister uses the bathroom and does not wash her hands carefully. E. coli (a deadly bacterium) hitches a ride with her into the kitchen. She introduces E. coli to everything she touches - the countertop, some cookies your mom left out, the refrigerator handle, the wet sink.

Aiieeeee! Because of little sister’s laziness, “deadly” E. coli will render the house a gruesome fecal bloodbath the likes of which no medical examiner could ever dare dream of. Better they had gotten infected with Ebola; at least they would have had a fighting chance.

Last I checked, WebMD actually had some real money to have legitimate medical story writers. I’d not have batted an eye if it was “Yahoo,” “Ask.com” or something generic. Dr. Smith, while you’re scaring the hell out of the public, you just might want to mention that E. coli is a naturally occurring bacterial resident in both cattle and human intestines. Yes, enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) with the famous strain O157:H7 (the “Jack-In-the-Box” strain) can be deadly, mainly for children and the elderly because they are more susceptible to develop a complication called hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). There are also other classes of pathogenic E. coli, each with specific characteristics that go by names like EAEC, EIEC, ETEC, and AFLAC. Ok, maybe not that last one… But not only are these types of E. coli the bad apples of an otherwise huge bunch, but E. coli itself is a minor player in human digestive tracts; anaerobic bacteria such as Bacteroides fragilis outnumber E. coli 1000:1 at least. I’d expect WebMD to do better.

I also appreciated this gem later in the article:

Some experts believe the hand sanitizers may be more effective at killing bacteria and viruses than soap and water.

WebMD, where do you find these trailblazers of science?! I mean really! Soap solubilizes oils, allowing them to come off the skin with water, but itself kills nothing. Handwashing with soap and water removes pathogens mainly from rubbing/friction removal action, trapping in soapy film, then rinsing the bugs down the drain. I’ll keep washing my hands to remove dirt and grime, but I put my money on the direct killing action >60% ethanol, chlorhexidine and Triclosan^tm over saponificated fat any day, thankyouverymuch. Perhaps I’m silly that way.
Here are other headline gems I find in WebMD News’ Feed, just in the last two weeks:

• Women’s Cancer Prevention Falls Short (screening? genetic markers? NO! Not enough veggies!)
• Chronic Disease Costs Staggering (we don’t have a health care crisis from car accidents, ya know)
• Too Much TV Causes Behavior Problems (”What was that? I wasn’t listening…”)
• Modest Weight Loss Cuts Hypertension (Nobel material here)
• Many Shoppers Favor Organic Food (yeah, 20-23%. That’s “many.” Idiots.)
• Job Stress May Be Depressing (tell me about it)
• Diabetes Treatment a Burden to Many (Although some say “It’s no big deal; I kinda like it, actually.”)
• Bird Flu May Pass to Fetus via Womb (So the one growing on the side of my neck is safe? Whew!)
• Magnets Don’t Fight Pain, Study Shows (As everyone who comes out of a cramped MRI tube can tell you)
• Cancer Affects Patients’ Spouses, Too (Really?!)
• Stimulants Help Students With ADHD (This is 2007, right? I thought we knew this 30+ years ago…)
• Seasonal Depression Tied to Serotonin (Are you sure it’s 2007, ’cause I’m getting worried now)

I never expected anything more than general, public-oriented news on WebMD’s feed, but this is unbearable. Any recommendations for good, general health news sources that 1) preferably can be available via RSS, and 2) are free? I’m too poor to afford the fancy journal watch subscription services. Poo.