Expert: Paula Damgaard - 6/7/2006

Question
After many antibiotics, the Urologist concluded that my Mom, age 80, suffering from Alzheimers for the past two years, has a certain bacteria (e. coli) that lives within the body and cannot be beat.  So we let it continue to live there.

1. Does this sound right to you?
2. Any research done on possible links between e.coli and alzheimers?
Thank you for your time.  =o)

Answer
E. coli is a bacteria that everyone carries in the intestines, it helps to breakdown waste into the conditions it needs to be in for us to get rid of it.  You ask if there is any link between e. coli and Alzheimer's, only in that everyone has e. coli and so everyone who has AD also has e. coli, but that doesn't mean that it is a cause.  

What it means is that your 80 year old mother is not being kept clean enough in her bottom.  If she is still wipeing herself, she is probably wipeing back to front rather than front to back and therefore transfereing the bacteria from her butt to her urethra (urine hole, sorry to be so blunt, but no real delicate way to say some of this stuff).  This can give her urinary tract infections.  

Solutions?  Buy her some of the wipes that are typically used for babies to clean herself after she goes to the bathroom, for both 1 and 2.  There are flushable kinds that she can use instead of toilet paper, which should cut down on her infections.

Hope this helps.  Again I apologize for some of the choice of words but want to make sure you understand what I am talking about!  Good Luck.  Paula