FUTURES

INFECTIOUS FUTURES
Stories of the post-antibiotic apocalypse
A week later the heat was back. A flash fire. Ayanda returned to the
clinic before it consumed her.
Dr Pienaar was not overly concerned. “Recurrences are not uncommon.
The bugs are becoming more and more resistant to antibiotics. Have you
had a UTI in the last few months?”
She shook her head. “Only once before. When I was younger.”
He nodded. “I’ll put you on a stronger course of antibiotics and we’ll
have your sample sent away to be cultured to see what we’re dealing with.
In the meantime I suggest you and your boyfriend…”
“Husband.”
“… husband, wear a condom. And when you use the toilet, try wiping
towards the back to prevent the bacteria entering your system.”
Ayanda blinked at the indignity of the conversation. She was not a child
that needed to be told how to use the bathroom. She left without asking for a
letter booking her off work.
She didn’t mention her return visit to her husband, but took the antibiotic,
a giant white capsule, which contained penicillin (a large orange sticker on
the box informed her of this) and felt better within an hour.
Ayanda and Anton didn’t celebrate their anniversary in their usual
fashion and decided to go to bed early. She showered first, because her
colleague Skye, a self-professed expert on feminine hygiene, assured her
that bathing was a sure way to spread germs around. “You’re practically
soaking in your own filth,” she said.
Augmentin – amoxicillin/clavulanic acidpenicillin-based antibiotic
used for fighting bacterial infection in the body
Ayanda was working late on an outdoor banner advertising the thirtieth
birthday of a car dealership when she felt a cloudy sensation near her navel.
She excused herself and went to the bathroom. Instead of relief, she felt the
same virulent pain as before. She stopped at the chemist’s on the way home
for cranberry tablets. The all-knowing Skye had explained that there was
something in the berries that stopped bacteria from sticking to the urethral
walls.
Cranberryherbal supplement used as a preventative for urinary tract
infections
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