Hydration isn’t for blood flushing

— Drinking extra fluids can help a sick person, but not by flushing the germs from the bloodstream, as many people have been led to believe.

Fluids are recommended to keep a sick person hydrated, said Dr. Shari Midoneck, an internist at the Iris Cantor Women’s Health Center of New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Someone with a fever or diarrhea or someone sick to his stomach is losing fluids that need to be replaced, she said. A patient who does not drink to replace the losses can become hypotensive, meaning that the blood pressure is abnormally low.

“But the fluids do not flush out bacteria or viruses in your blood,” she said. “Only antibiotics or time can do that.”

That does not mean that the cleansing power of fluids is not important, Midoneck said.

“In the case of urinary tract infections drinking a lot of fluids will keep things moving through the urinary tract and could potentially prevent infection by flushing away bacteria that could have adhered to the wall of the bladder.”

ActiveStyle, Pages 32 on 09/27/2010

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