02-17-2010, 07:48 PM
(02-17-2010 07:17 PM)JanH Wrote: [ -> ]As I understand it, greater success (more of them) for resistant strains is just the result of natural selection in the face of a medication. They exist or come into existence totally apart from the med (just from replication "mistakes" for example), but the med gives them the advantage in the struggle for survival among t foetus that takes place without meds present, so they are the ones who survive and take over the "t foetus world," moving from a small minority to dominance. In other words, the natural mechanism of cats may destroy half of t foetus in the cat's system, including the med resistant ones. If 1% of those present are med resistant, then the cat will reduce that population to .5%. However, if you medicate and the resistant strain becomes 99% in the cat, then the cat will destroy only half of those, leaving many more to cause symptoms and to be spread to other cats. In other words, you give them a leg up in the competition to survive and replicate.
This is why one should be careful about over use of penicillin, for example. One can develop and further strains of microbes in your household - and worse, in the world at large - for which there is no effective medication.
Obviously, a cat is not going to be free of a medication resistant strain based on giving the medication. Those are the ones one wants to know about after household treatment with respect to this issue.
This is very important to know. You explained it well. Thanks