A buddy of mine who lives in a town on the US-Mexico border says that people are lined up out the doors of the farmacias down there. He goes down once a month to buy his father's blood pressure meds, and says all of a sudden you can't get in for everyone buying up Cipro.

Would you trust the Cipro that you would buy down there right now? Not sure I would.

Ummm... yeah I'd trust it.

I wouldnt buy generic crap made in mexico... but I would buy the stuff that is stamped and packaged by US manufacturers.... you CAN get the same stuff from Eckerds down there.

M.

That's it, drjarhead. I'd only trust sealed bottles of Bayer brand Cipro.

What is particularily sad is that Cipro is not the only compound that is effective against Anthrax bacillus.

Although it can be extremely deadly, it is relatively uncomplicated.  Drugs such as Penicillin, Amoxicillin and Doxycycline are just as effective (although the dosage and schedule might be different).

This panic must be a financial boon to Bayer.  The media is giving them an advertisement windfall that they couln't even dream of.  And it's all for free.

Michigander in Maryland

Yeah, I saw this coming over a month ago and I am really kicking myself in the ass for not buying Bayer stock. Oh well, live and learn.

Bayer stock is not traded in the US, too bad, I wish I had some shares too.

And as far as I know, Cipro is a trademarked antibiotic, and only comes from Bayer in Germany. Just like many other manufactured products, many FDA approved drugs actually comes from Mexico or American owned labs in Mexico. Their prescription drugs are high quality, the reason why they are so much cheaper in Mexico is not because they are of a lesser quality, many times the opposite is true. "They allow higher dosages than the FDA will approve." Their medicines and medical care are subsidized by the government (socialism) and they also don't have to pay extremely high malpractice insurance premiums.

My concern was regarding counterfeiting. I'll admit that I've never bought drugs in Mexico.

Per CNN counterfeit cipro is beginning to show up. Just be aware.

We got our family's stock of Cipro, Doxy and Amoxy two weeks ago.  We're not actively taking anything at this point in time.

Strange how our congress-critter's are telling us that prophylactic doses of Cipro are not called for while out of the other side of their mouth they tell us THEY are already taking it as prophylactic.

Just don't give the Cipro to your kids if they are under 18.  Hell, don't give it to them at all...

Cipro is in many respects a bad antibiotic.  A good antibiotic targets only the pathogen responsible for an infection and very few others.  Cipro is like the Spectre gunship of antibiotics:  it takes out friggin everything.  Can you say 'diarrhea'?  I knew you could.  In kids, it kills of the growth plates at the ends of the bones:  can make'em stop growing. We won't mention the fact that it's almost $10/day. Another bad example of medicine by media.

Penicillin, doxycycline, or cephalexin. Save the Cipro for when it's really needed.

shooter.

1) Remember to throw it all out in a year, by which time it will have degraded to uselessness.  The doxycycline will become toxic over time.

2) Doxycycline, like tetracycline, stains the teeth -- they'll turn gray if you take it for very long.  Mine look a little strange now, although since I didn't look closely before, it's hard to compare.

3) My experience with Cipro did not involve any diarrhea.  The stuff was basically useless IMHO;  it had almost no effect on anything in my body.

3a) Augmentin was the thermonuclear bomb of antibiotics for two courses, but by the third time everything in my body was resistant to it anyway. . . .  Something to keep in mind for anyone contemplating taking ANY antibiotic for purposes of "prophylaxis" -- next time I get sick, God alone knows what they're gonna have to use.