Transcript
WEBVTT
00:00:09.730 --> 00:00:17.230
This is a podcast about One Health the idea that the health of humans, animals, plants and the environment that we all share are intrinsically linked.
00:00:17.721 --> 00:00:21.591
Coming to you from the University of Texas Medical Branch and the Galveston National Laboratory.
00:00:21.940 --> 00:00:26.562
This is Infectious Science, where enthusiasm for science is contagious.
00:00:30.248 --> 00:00:34.295
All right, hello everyone and welcome to this episode of Infectious Science.
00:00:34.295 --> 00:00:36.526
We are so excited to be here with you today.
00:00:36.526 --> 00:00:44.381
My name is Camilla Du and we're going to be talking about antivirals, antifungals and antibiotics and the difference between all of these.
00:00:44.381 --> 00:00:50.768
So when we get an infection, the drugs to treat it fall into those three main categories and each of them treats a different type of infection.
00:00:50.768 --> 00:01:02.726
So viruses like COVID-19 or the flu are treated with antivirals, bacterial infections like strep or Lyme are treated with antibiotics, and then fungal infections like yeast infections or ringworm are treated with antifungals.
00:01:02.726 --> 00:01:06.353
So in this episode we're going to break down the difference between these categories of drugs.
00:01:07.013 --> 00:01:15.759
Rock on and I guess we can go ahead and we can start with antibiotics, because I feel like that's probably the medication that most people are Everybody's probably taking antibiotics.
00:01:15.759 --> 00:01:16.444
Exactly.
00:01:16.444 --> 00:01:18.337
Most people are aware That'd be an interesting study.
00:01:18.578 --> 00:01:20.724
Are there populations that haven't taken antibiotics?
00:01:20.724 --> 00:01:22.046
And then what does that look like?
00:01:22.486 --> 00:01:30.784
And then now studies that show that even species or animals that have not taken antibiotics, that they pick up the antibiotic resistance from humans.
00:01:30.784 --> 00:01:32.447
Oh, that's pretty wild, right I?
00:01:32.487 --> 00:01:35.361
wonder too, with like amphibians and stuff, does that affect them?
00:01:35.361 --> 00:01:40.572
Because if it's in our water supply, so if it's in like wastewater, if you have antibiotic residue, it'd be really interesting.
00:01:40.572 --> 00:01:43.843
There's been other studies on things that are in our wastewater that are affecting amphibians.
00:01:44.063 --> 00:01:44.865
That's really interesting.
00:01:44.865 --> 00:01:45.868
I didn't even think about that.
00:01:45.868 --> 00:01:54.493
Well, let's get into the general idea of what antibiotics are, and then we'll discuss the effects on amphibian populations.
00:01:54.493 --> 00:01:57.144
What are antibiotics?
00:01:57.144 --> 00:02:04.653
A lot of people probably don't know, but antibiotics actually originate from fungi and from soil bacteria, and it kind of makes sense when you think about it, right.
00:02:04.653 --> 00:02:14.463
So these fungi have been around, and also bacteria have been around for thousands and thousands of years before us, and they were each other's competition when it comes down to it.
00:02:14.463 --> 00:02:17.628
And what do you have to do in order to survive amongst your competition?
00:02:17.628 --> 00:02:18.984
You got to have a way to kill them.
00:02:19.145 --> 00:02:33.187
That's all I'm going to say, especially because it's close quarters, right Like a lot of our antibiotics are from soil bacteria, right, exactly so they're very densely packed together, so if you aren't really moving around a bunch, you got to compete with your neighbors for nutrients.
00:02:33.379 --> 00:02:37.129
Yeah, exactly, and so the way that most of these antibiotics work.
00:02:37.129 --> 00:02:52.513
Well, let's be real, a lot of different antibiotics have different mechanisms, right, but some common ways that they work are, for example, by attacking the bacterial cell wall or the bacterial cell membrane, and so it's basically attacking the skin of the bacteria, let's say, and getting rid of the bacteria skin.
00:02:52.513 --> 00:02:55.789
And if you get rid of a human skin, a human's not going to survive.
00:02:55.789 --> 00:02:57.387
It's the same thing with the bacteria.
00:02:57.387 --> 00:02:59.447
So that's one way the antibiotics work.
00:02:59.447 --> 00:03:04.746
Maybe another way that we can talk about is just interfering with the actual bacterial replication in general.
00:03:04.746 --> 00:03:07.350
It's definitely a way that we can talk about is just interfering with the actual bacterial replication in general.
00:03:07.350 --> 00:03:09.259
It's definitely a way that antibiotics can work and that they are effective.
00:03:09.259 --> 00:03:12.806
And then also by blocking some protein production.
00:03:12.907 --> 00:03:15.393
But that's kind of getting into the nitty gritty of things.
00:03:15.393 --> 00:03:24.490
So I did want to talk a little bit about how antibiotics were originally found, though, because that's always a really fun story, and you guys actually corrected me on this when I first told you guys.
00:03:24.490 --> 00:03:36.501
So in 1928, I believe, alexander Fleming was a scientist, he was working with bacteria, and I think you said that he had tossed his plates with cultures into the trash.
00:03:36.501 --> 00:03:38.325
And then he came back.
00:03:38.325 --> 00:03:56.581
He was frustrated, I guess, left the lab, tossed the cultures, came back and noticed that there were these clear spots, so clear zones, where the bacteria was actually not able to grow Around the fungus that had grown Around, fungus that had contaminated the plates, and that fungus came from whatever was in the trash, right?
00:03:56.883 --> 00:03:58.551
Well, I think as we'll get to later.
00:03:58.551 --> 00:03:59.597
Yeah we're going to talk about.
00:03:59.597 --> 00:04:00.961
There's fungus everywhere.
00:04:00.961 --> 00:04:04.912
So if you're taking a deep breath right now, you're inhaling fungus, I guarantee it.
00:04:04.912 --> 00:04:10.104
It's really cool to see clearing zones.
00:04:10.104 --> 00:04:14.826
I used to work at a bacteriology lab and we would treat with different antibiotics on these little discs and then you set them on the plate and I just thought they looked really cool.
00:04:14.826 --> 00:04:15.730
It's like modern art.
00:04:15.992 --> 00:04:18.281
Yeah, exactly Because you have this plate.
00:04:18.281 --> 00:04:25.213
Imagine a plate, guys like full of fuzz or a growth or something right, and then what is a clear zone?
00:04:25.213 --> 00:04:29.286
It's literally a zone where that growth cannot form.
00:04:29.286 --> 00:04:30.910
So there are these clear spots on a plate.
00:04:30.910 --> 00:04:38.783
For those who don't know what a clear zone is or what a petri dish is or what an auger plate is, that's what it looks like, and so you can really make art with it.
00:04:39.184 --> 00:04:42.071
Yes, also, that's a fun thing to do if you have bacteria that'll fluoresce.
00:04:42.531 --> 00:04:43.954
Yeah, that was always a thing we would like.
00:04:44.175 --> 00:04:44.797
I did something.
00:04:44.797 --> 00:04:48.423
It was not an actual lab activity, it was just a fun science thing.
00:04:48.423 --> 00:04:53.769
It was very benign bacteria and they were like yeah, like just make your little art Someone made like a.
00:04:53.769 --> 00:04:57.444
It was like the ocean and a surfboard and it was very well done.
00:04:57.444 --> 00:04:58.387
It was impressive.
00:04:58.387 --> 00:05:01.225
Mine was like squiggles, but it still of them.
00:05:01.245 --> 00:05:03.649
They're so cool, very interesting.
00:05:03.649 --> 00:05:06.074
Did you go to a Waldorf school or Montessori?
00:05:07.379 --> 00:05:07.841
It's actually at.
00:05:07.860 --> 00:05:09.644
Cornell, where I did this Montessori.
00:05:09.725 --> 00:05:12.211
Dennis, are we like playing with bacteria in kindergarten?
00:05:12.211 --> 00:05:13.072
Is that what we're doing?
00:05:13.392 --> 00:05:13.774
I don't know.
00:05:13.774 --> 00:05:15.740
It's free thinking, free spirit.
00:05:15.740 --> 00:05:17.141
I've never heard of a Waldorf school.
00:05:17.141 --> 00:05:17.843
No.
00:05:18.103 --> 00:05:19.285
Yeah, they're Kind of a Montessori.
00:05:26.382 --> 00:05:27.269
Isn't it the self-teach?
00:05:28.261 --> 00:05:29.485
Yeah, they have a lot of pre-thinking.
00:05:29.485 --> 00:05:29.906
Teach yourself.
00:05:30.459 --> 00:05:33.007
Do they use antibiotics in the Waldorf school?
00:05:33.007 --> 00:05:33.829
I don't know.
00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:36.180
Isn't the antibiotic free zone?
00:05:36.401 --> 00:05:37.961
It's a clear zone.
00:05:37.961 --> 00:05:38.723
It's a clear zone.
00:05:38.783 --> 00:05:40.543
It's a clear zone.
00:05:40.543 --> 00:05:45.567
Oh my gosh, making me think of those signs I see of slow down.
00:05:45.567 --> 00:05:46.829
This is a school zone.
00:05:46.829 --> 00:05:47.810
This is a clear zone.
00:05:47.910 --> 00:05:49.031
Oh no.
00:05:49.031 --> 00:05:56.677
So just going back to the history of antibiotics in general, one event that I did want to talk about is the Coconut Grove Fire.
00:05:59.721 --> 00:06:00.930
So that was a fire that happened in.
00:06:00.930 --> 00:06:02.000
Is it a club somewhere in Houston?
00:06:02.641 --> 00:06:04.699
It's a club somewhere in Boston.
00:06:04.699 --> 00:06:05.201
It was a club in Houston.
00:06:05.201 --> 00:06:05.903
It's a club somewhere in Boston.
00:06:05.923 --> 00:06:08.490
It was a club in 1942.
00:06:08.730 --> 00:06:15.153
And it was the place to go to if you were an athlete, if you were a politician, if you were a celebrity.
00:06:15.153 --> 00:06:16.665
Everyone was going to Coconut Grove.
00:06:16.665 --> 00:06:20.682
However, coconut Grove only had one main entrance, one main exit.
00:06:20.682 --> 00:06:27.843
It was the same door and it was a revolving door and, of course, this was back in 1942.
00:06:27.843 --> 00:06:34.103
They still had lots of candlelit things and they had, of course, electricity, but that electricity was shoddy, let's be real.
00:06:34.103 --> 00:06:46.088
So there was a light bulb that went out in Coconut Grove and apparently the story goes that a worker was sent to change the light bulb but because there was no light there, he couldn't see what he was doing.
00:06:46.088 --> 00:06:49.600
So he lit a match and you guys know what happened.
00:06:50.500 --> 00:07:09.726
And with only one main exit, with fire exits jammed and with the other exits only known to people who actually worked at the club, there was a huge amount of injuries and also casualties from the actual incident and, of course, many of those injuries were serious burns.
00:07:09.726 --> 00:07:17.394
As we all know, burns are incredibly susceptible to infection because you're, as I said previously, taking out the skin of a human.
00:07:17.394 --> 00:07:25.273
The skin is our protection from so much and it also side note has a lot of bacteria on it that are really good for us.
00:07:25.273 --> 00:07:42.091
But when you get rid of that epidermal layer, you expose the body to a lot of bacteria, fungi and potential infections that your body normally wouldn't be susceptible to, and so back in 1942, when this occurred, they didn't have antibiotics.
00:07:42.091 --> 00:07:51.223
So a lot of people who sustained really serious burns ended up getting not only injured but also sustaining really serious infections that could potentially lead to death.
00:07:51.524 --> 00:08:11.370
However, our lovely little friend penicillin had recently been not only discovered but somewhat developed just not in the mainstream labs, and it wasn't heavily funded until the scientists managed to get the opportunity to treat the patients with penicillin.
00:08:11.370 --> 00:08:15.583
I have a stat here Merck and Company was the company that was working with penicillin.
00:08:15.583 --> 00:08:27.014
They were allowed to rush a 32 liter supply of penicillin to Boston to treat the patients with these serious birds 32 liters of liquid penicillin.
00:08:27.961 --> 00:08:32.272
Wasn't probably super potent back then, though right Probably not Probably not.
00:08:32.272 --> 00:08:34.128
When did Fleming discover the stuff?
00:08:34.128 --> 00:08:34.509
Do you remember In?
00:08:34.529 --> 00:08:35.817
1928.
00:08:36.158 --> 00:08:38.426
Oh wow, and this was in 1942.
00:08:38.626 --> 00:08:41.607
Yeah, okay, several years between the two events.
00:08:41.607 --> 00:08:50.914
And it was only after the penicillin was proven to keep these patients from developing infections that penicillin was then funded.
00:08:50.914 --> 00:08:56.750
The research into penicillin and the mass development of penicillin was actually funded by the US government.
00:08:57.352 --> 00:08:58.073
It's really wild.
00:08:58.073 --> 00:09:01.951
I always assumed it was the Second World War was where we got penicillin from.
00:09:02.863 --> 00:09:06.894
I think it was also used during the Second World War, which was right around that time, right.
00:09:06.914 --> 00:09:07.155
Right.
00:09:07.155 --> 00:09:12.256
Okay, so maybe this was a civilian population that got tested on, but I wonder you're making me think now.
00:09:12.256 --> 00:09:23.291
I think you brought up a great point that I want to highlight, in that, as much as we're talking about antibiotics and wanting to kill bacteria that are harming us, we do have a fabulous amount of bacteria on our skin, living inside of us.
00:09:23.291 --> 00:09:26.682
The world would not do well as a sterile place without bacteria.
00:09:26.682 --> 00:09:29.229
We need them for so many processes.
00:09:29.229 --> 00:09:31.234
I think microbiome is really fascinating.
00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:32.264
Microbiome is incredible.
00:09:32.264 --> 00:09:33.589
Microbiome is all over.
00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:34.883
But back to your history.
00:09:34.883 --> 00:09:42.240
I definitely would have died in the coconut grove fire because I struggle with revolving doors when I'm not under duress and I actually actively avoid them.
00:09:42.340 --> 00:09:44.403
Do you think you would have gone to a club back then?
00:09:44.605 --> 00:09:45.306
Probably not.
00:09:45.306 --> 00:09:48.211
No, I'm going to read a book and drink, you know, a nice Earl Grey tea.
00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:52.782
On a.
00:09:52.822 --> 00:09:54.326
Friday night, my Friday nights yeah, they're wild.
00:10:02.440 --> 00:10:03.482
Hey, kudos to you, though, and I just looked it up.
00:10:03.482 --> 00:10:11.570
Actually, it says that the success of penicillin in treating these burn victims from the coconut grill fire led to the US government to support the production and distribution to the armed forces, so that was probably what allowed you know.
00:10:12.419 --> 00:10:21.455
So, Mrs Stats, do you have some stats on how many people died of bacterial diseases before penicillin and then after penicillin?
00:10:21.721 --> 00:10:23.066
That I don't A lot.
00:10:23.066 --> 00:10:34.716
Yeah, I could imagine a lot, because I'm almost certain that the number one cause of death was these common pathogens that now we can fight with a simple antifungal or an antibiotic.
00:10:34.716 --> 00:10:38.788
And I know that was the number one cause of death before these medications were invented.
00:10:38.788 --> 00:10:41.296
And that actually is a nice little segue into.
00:10:41.296 --> 00:10:43.948
What I did want to talk about was antibiotic resistance.
00:10:44.750 --> 00:10:54.788
So antibiotic resistance is a serious global health problem for sure, and it occurs when bacteria evolve to resist the effects of antibiotics.
00:10:54.788 --> 00:10:57.014
And there are several ways that this can happen.
00:10:57.014 --> 00:11:07.633
One of the ways is to where bacteria themselves, just when they're replicating, mutations happen, as they always do, and then they just develop these means of resistance to an antibiotic.
00:11:07.633 --> 00:11:24.590
Another way is when antibiotics aren't taken correctly, whether they're taken for a viral infection that they did not need the antibiotics for, whether someone's given a course of antibiotics and they don't finish the course of antibiotics or they don't take the antibiotic as properly prescribed.
00:11:24.590 --> 00:11:39.793
That introduces the medication to bacterial populations and it also gives the bacteria who are resistant to the medication the opportunity to pass these genes on from themselves to other bacteria and also to proliferate in the face of this antibiotics.
00:11:39.793 --> 00:11:44.429
And then there's also sexual transmission between bacteria.
00:11:44.649 --> 00:11:46.816
Conjugation Conjugation there you go.
00:11:47.225 --> 00:11:49.210
The good old conjugation.
00:11:49.210 --> 00:11:51.294
It's weird.
00:11:51.294 --> 00:11:54.711
They just kind of like they literally pass their DNA to each other.
00:11:54.711 --> 00:11:56.056
They're like here, mate, here you go.
00:11:56.284 --> 00:12:01.472
Yeah, and some bacteria can just pick it up from the environment, just you know, like eating DNA kind of stuff.
00:12:01.472 --> 00:12:02.416
It's really weird.
00:12:02.416 --> 00:12:12.096
Bacteria are fun little creatures, yeah, but I think also what you're talking about is if someone hasn't finished their course of antibiotics, like you take it every 12 hours or whatever.
00:12:12.096 --> 00:12:14.745
It's meant to keep a certain level present in your body.
00:12:14.865 --> 00:12:29.570
And so then, if you are like, oh, I feel good you drop off, you might not continue taking it, then that potentially allows the populations that haven't died to then kind of rebound or just sort of continue to thrive, and that's you know, Camille, it's so difficult.
00:12:30.010 --> 00:12:30.932
You feel really bad.
00:12:30.932 --> 00:12:35.278
You go to the doctor, they prescribe you antibiotics and you feel much better.
00:12:35.278 --> 00:12:44.126
Within like two, three days the pain is gone.
00:12:44.126 --> 00:12:45.272
So you're not reminded to take the antibiotics.
00:12:45.272 --> 00:12:46.176
So isn't it super tricky to keep on taking?
00:12:46.197 --> 00:12:46.397
your stuff.
00:12:46.397 --> 00:12:47.160
I think that's a really good point.
00:12:47.160 --> 00:12:51.270
That's with any medication, right, Like even if you're diabetic and taking insulin or something.
00:12:51.270 --> 00:12:59.806
But yeah, especially for something like antibiotics, it can, I think, be very hard for people to remember to take them, or just that there's this feeling that the effects upon you have passed.
00:12:59.806 --> 00:13:11.115
But also our health is globally interconnected, right, and so the effects of my health affect everyone else, right, and I think that that's something to keep in mind and I think that that is something that everyone kind of struggles with.
00:13:11.115 --> 00:13:15.190
But it's worth it to put the reminder on your phone or get a pill case, you know, if you took it today.
00:13:15.190 --> 00:13:15.613
I always do.
00:13:15.613 --> 00:13:16.740
I'm like did I take?
00:13:16.880 --> 00:13:17.424
this today.
00:13:17.424 --> 00:13:19.269
Yeah, that's fair.
00:13:19.269 --> 00:13:22.498
Whatever works for you, honestly, and I think it's also important.
00:13:22.498 --> 00:13:22.945
Obviously.
00:13:22.945 --> 00:13:24.628
This is why we're doing this show right.
00:13:24.628 --> 00:13:31.836
I don't think a lot of people are actually educated on what antibiotics are, how to take antibiotics, why it's important to take antibiotics, the way that you should take them.
00:13:31.836 --> 00:13:38.472
So don't feel embarrassed to all of our listeners If you haven't in the past taken a course of antibiotics properly.
00:13:38.472 --> 00:13:39.937
I think we've all been there, done that.
00:13:39.937 --> 00:13:52.250
But, moving forward, do your best and just know that doctors prescribe medications in a certain way, because sometimes you need to take them in that certain way to help not only yourself, but also your friends, your family and those around you.
00:13:52.630 --> 00:13:56.058
And antibiotic-resistant infections are nasty, nasty things to treat.
00:13:56.144 --> 00:14:01.177
They are really nasty, they are expensive to treat and they are not fun to have.
00:14:01.365 --> 00:14:12.078
And it's sometimes they can throw everything at it that they can, and I think that that's also an aspect of you may have never taken antibiotics in your life, but you can still pick up an antibiotic-resistant infection because we have them in our environment.
00:14:12.078 --> 00:14:21.126
Someone else might have it, it might be in something that you're exposed to and so, keeping this in mind, it's not just your personal use of something, but it affects everyone around you.
00:14:21.368 --> 00:14:21.849
Absolutely so.
00:14:21.849 --> 00:14:29.496
Can we just quickly summarize for our listeners why should you continue taking your antibiotics, although you feel better?
00:14:29.496 --> 00:14:31.892
Just in a few sentences, what would you say?
00:14:31.892 --> 00:14:32.865
What's your slogan?
00:14:33.447 --> 00:14:35.953
Continue taking your antibiotics even though you feel better.
00:14:35.953 --> 00:14:50.869
Because it keeps the medication at a level in your body that's going to ensure that there's no bacteria that are persisting that might then cause the infection to resurge, but also because just out of respect for everyone else around you.
00:14:51.350 --> 00:14:53.908
In a sense that we don't want to generate resistance.
00:14:53.988 --> 00:14:55.331
That we don't want to generate resistance.
00:14:55.331 --> 00:15:11.311
We have a lot of bugs that are already resistant and we're really struggling to treat many of them, and we only have so many antibiotics, and some of the antibiotics that work against resistant infections are incredibly expensive, expensive, yes, incredibly expensive.
00:15:11.591 --> 00:15:14.418
And just so you guys know we're not making any of this up.
00:15:14.418 --> 00:15:19.554
You know E coli has a 42% resistance to third-generation cephalosporins.
00:15:19.554 --> 00:15:26.052
Staphylococcus aureus I'm sure everyone in the healthcare system has heard of MRSA Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
00:15:26.052 --> 00:15:27.647
That is a nasty bugger.
00:15:27.647 --> 00:15:29.691
Okay, this is actually a thing.
00:15:29.691 --> 00:15:31.173
We're not making this up.
00:15:31.913 --> 00:15:40.408
Yeah, there's so many infections that people get that they might have compromised immune systems, so they're like diabetic or something.
00:15:40.408 --> 00:15:42.855
They pick up an infection and they end up having to get things like amputation Because that's the last recourse.
00:15:42.855 --> 00:15:48.832
It's not treatable with antibiotics and that's a very grim reality that we are talking in 2024.
00:15:48.993 --> 00:16:07.067
And that's how we deal with some infections to this day is like amputation is the only option because if it's between your leg or your life and that's really scary yeah, I'd rather give my leg and we also don't want that to be a reality for ourselves in the future you know, if you want to be able to get a hip replacement or a knee replacement in the future because you might need one.
00:16:07.067 --> 00:16:18.626
You know you don't want more antibiotic resistant bugs just kind of hanging around and there's ways to treat them, but a lot of it's also very long courses of antibiotics and that's not great for your microbiome.
00:16:18.726 --> 00:16:20.653
I was going to say and then that has other effects.
00:16:20.653 --> 00:16:22.186
Right, it's like rippling side effects.
00:16:22.186 --> 00:16:29.038
So it's great to maintain this level of antibiotic effectiveness as long as we can.
00:16:29.038 --> 00:16:31.211
But anyway.
00:16:31.673 --> 00:16:35.591
So for you as a future physician, christina, yeah, what can you do?
00:16:36.354 --> 00:16:45.325
I think educating your patients is going to be the best way possible to for you as a doctor and, as a physician, definitely not over prescribing antibiotics.
00:16:45.645 --> 00:16:50.746
I mean, I personally have been prescribed antibiotics for what is more than likely a viral infection.
00:16:50.746 --> 00:17:03.929
Right so, like for the common, there's definitely multiple cases in which patients also will ask for antibiotics, even though maybe a physician says, hey, I'm pretty sure this is a viral infection, let's just write it out, treat your symptoms.
00:17:03.929 --> 00:17:05.272
Patients will persist.
00:17:05.272 --> 00:17:14.154
So there's kind of that fine balance between wanting to respect your patients and their autonomy but also wanting to respect the global health, the broader community and the health of the broader community.
00:17:14.154 --> 00:17:19.974
I think it's just being diligent about making those decisions with education, right.
00:17:19.974 --> 00:17:29.174
You just want to understand the processes behind the things that you're prescribing and understand why you're prescribing things and educate your patients on why you're prescribing things, and that's the best you can do.
00:17:29.845 --> 00:17:39.862
Yeah, and I think it's totally fair for people who are patients to, if their doctor's like hey, I want to prescribe you antibiotics, ask oh, did you take a throat culture, like if it's something like a sinus infection, are you really sure it's bacterial?
00:17:39.862 --> 00:17:42.107
Or, you know, has that person been tested for COVID, that kind of stuff?
00:17:42.107 --> 00:17:46.073
Because the symptoms can look very similar when it's like an uspiro-respiratory thing.
00:17:46.292 --> 00:17:47.694
Absolutely, absolutely.
00:17:47.694 --> 00:17:51.740
Camille, you want to let us know about antifungals.
00:17:55.424 --> 00:17:57.326
Yes, let's, let's, let's talk about fungus among us.
00:17:57.487 --> 00:17:58.067
I love I think.
00:17:58.067 --> 00:17:59.388
Oh my gosh.
00:17:59.388 --> 00:18:05.095
I need to do an episode just on fungus and call it the fungus among us.
00:18:05.796 --> 00:18:07.237
I think fungi are so cool.
00:18:07.237 --> 00:18:16.013
So just to start off again kind of with a broad definition basically, antifungals are medicines that kill or stop the growth of fungi that cause infections.
00:18:16.013 --> 00:18:17.617
But what exactly are fungi?
00:18:17.617 --> 00:18:35.637
Fungi include yeast, molds, basically things that reproduce through these really, really tiny spores, and so, as we were talking about, you know, with bacteria, we also have a naturally occurring microbiome of, you know, fungi and viruses that exist on our body as well, which is pretty cool that we've just evolved to live with them.
00:18:35.637 --> 00:18:51.275
Right, they live on our skin, in our gut, in the female reproductive system, and so there's definitely some really common fungal infections that most people have probably heard of, things like yeast infections or even, because she and I were really surprised to discover that dandruff might be caused by fungi.
00:18:51.375 --> 00:18:53.419
I had no idea, which I think is really wild.
00:18:53.419 --> 00:18:58.094
I always thought it was just like that's how people's scalp are yeah, like maybe you just had more sensitive skin.
00:18:58.184 --> 00:19:04.352
Yeah but apparently it's possible that it's like an overgrowth of normal fungal flora, which is exactly what a yeast infection is.
00:19:04.352 --> 00:19:08.335
So I think that that's really interesting that these things exist on our bodies.
00:19:08.335 --> 00:19:16.820
This is always a really cool interaction for me that these things exist in our bodies and we've evolved to live with them because in some way these things are beneficial or, at the very least, not harmful to us.
00:19:16.820 --> 00:19:29.257
But in certain conditions, like when there's stress or maybe someone's super over shampooing their scalp or something like, maybe you end up developing kind of an overgrowth of these things that naturally occur on or within our bodies.
00:19:29.684 --> 00:19:31.992
And isn't that a testament to like how incredible the body is?
00:19:31.992 --> 00:19:39.851
So you just have this perfect balance of these microbes that if that balance is thrown off, even by hair, you're in trouble.
