Sat, 01 May 2004, 15:42:03 UTC-08:00
Would you like some Cipro with that?
I recently went to Bangalore, INDIA on a business trip. I managed to get my foot infected. I went directly from the airport to the ER. They gave me some antibiotics which seem to be working but for a while, I was unable to stand... NWA had a wheelchair waiting for me on landing but I popped some tylenol before the landing and was able to walk enough to make it off the plane.
The ER doc diagnosed it as cellulitis. The hotel doctor in Bangalore tried to give me some Indian manufactured Cipro for a stomache ailment... I thought maybe my foot problem was an allergic reaction to the Cipro.
A day prior to departing Bangalore, I had called the hotel front desk and asked if they could point me to a doctor. Apparently they had one on staff and connected me to his office. I told him I wasn't feeling well and he said he would send someone to my room. Ten minutes later some bellhop rang my room's doorbell and handed me a package of Cipro...
"Here's your medicine, sir."
Apparently, that's the standard procedure. When my coworker had a similar foot
problem earlier in the week, they sent him Cipro too. However, I was having a stomache problem and he was having a foot problem and the doctor just "prescribed" us both the same thing.
It was like, "Here, take some powerful antibiotics and don't call me again."
I was sitting next to a pharmacist on the flight back from Amsterdam and showed
him the package of cipro. He kinda wrinkled his nose at it.
Then when I showed the same package to the ER doctor... he made a face. The bacteria that causes cellulitis was probably prevelant in the dirt and dust. and it was very dusty there. I don't even want to think about all the nasty stuff I ingested. That's probably what caused my original ailment.
Speaking of the air... The air there is heavily polluted. Check this out...
Note that those little cab-things are 2-stroke engines
Note what's written on the back. It actually says, "please don't pollute the air"
I also thought that the faux Audio emblem was a nice touch... and no those things are not made by Audi.
There's a ton of 2-stroke scooters about. It was like being constantly surrounded by lawn mowers and weed trimmers.
Oh... here's another funny thing I saw stuck to a garbage can in the waiting area in AMS.
That motorbike with passenger area has a twin in Thailand called a tuk-tuk. It has a first cousin in the Philippines, with the passengers more in a sidecar to the motorbike, called a trike. Two sroke engines are easy to build and maintain. They don't use much gas. Air pollution is the inevitable result in a country where most people are poor, too poor to pay for better, more complex technology.
About the Cipro..for our first trip to Thailand I asked for a prescription for medication to take should I eat or drink something my system was not prepared to handle. I was given Cipro. I used it on my last trip, where a friend actually gave me water from a local well. Not even the locals drink the water!! Anyway, it worked fine.
Hope your feet heal nicely. Cellulitis can be extremely dangerous. What could have let it into your skin? A scrape, a scratch?
Posted by: cathy gramze on May 14, 2004 05:38 AMIndia did pass a law saying that any vehicles produced or imported after 1998 (I think... could be 1999) has to be 4-stroke/cycle. I did see some newer versions of those cab-things with 4-stroke labels on the back and some 2-stroke and even 4-stroke had LPG or CNG conversions. But you're right about the poorer economy and the lingering amount of older 2-stroke engines. Hopefully, the influx of money will result in a thinning out of the more polluting engines. The locals seem to think this will eventually happen. Also, they've been excited that some amount of money has started flowing into infrastructure development which I guess from all their comments is a huge sorepoint especially given the rapid growth over there.
I was told by a doctor acquaintance that Cipro and most second-generation antibiotics don't work all that well against skin infections. The first generation ones do better. That and probably the high-resistance to Cipro in the bacteria there due to overprescription of the drug probably accounts for its overall ineffectiveness.
I was wondering how it managed to get in myself. I voiced this question to Michelle when I got back. And as I had my legs propped up on a stool watching the two new kittens we had gotten a week or so before my departure playfully clawing at my leg, the answer dawned on me.
Posted by: Jake Khuon on May 14, 2004 03:35 PM