With Obamacare taking effect, across the land, you won’t live long enough to worry about superbugs.
Ping... (Better late than never, and thanks for posting, neverdem!)
Ping... (Better late than never, and thanks for posting, neverdem!)
I don’t read anything by anyone who doesn’t know when to say “bacteria” and when to say “bacterium.”
NDM-1 stands for New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, which is an enzyme produced by certain strains of bacteria that have recently acquired the genetic ability to make this compound. The enzyme is active against other compounds that contain a chemical structure known as a beta-lactam ring. Unfortunately, many antibiotics contain this ring, including the penicillins, cephalosporins, and the carbapenems.
NDM-1 infection was first identified (in 2009) in people who resided in or traveled to the India and Pakistan. Antibiotic use in India is not as restricted as it is in the United States and some researchers feel overuse of carbapenems allowed NDM-1 to develop. Others point to the advent of medical tourism as a cause of NDM-1 spread among countries. Medical tourism refers to patients who travel to a country to get medical care that is not available or is more expensive in their own country. The three first cases of NDM-1 infection in the United States were identified in June 2010 in Americans who had recently sought medical care in India. Vacation and business travel have also played a role in introducing NDM-1 bacteria into countries outside of the Indian subcontinent. Cases have now been detected in many countries, including Great Britain, Canada, Sweden, Australia, Japan, and the United States.
Cases of NDM-1 infection are usually caused by gram negative bacteria from the Enterobacteriaceae family. This family includes common bacteria like Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Klebsiella. These bacteria reside in the bowel and may spread from person to person if hands or items are contaminated with fecal material. To date, strains of Klebsiella, Escherichia, and Acinetobacter genera of bacteria are known to possess the gene for NDM-1.
What are symptoms and signs of a person infected with bacteria carrying NDM-1?
Bacteria from the Enterobacteriaceae family are the most common cause of urinary infections. They can also cause bloodstream infections (sepsis), pneumonia, or wound infections. Symptoms and signs reflect the site of the infection. Most patients will have fever and fatigue. If bacteria enter the bloodstream, patients may go into shock. Symptoms do not differ between bacteria that express NDM-1 and those that do not. However, patients who have bacteria producing NDM-1 will not respond to most conventional antibiotics and are at high risk for complications.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
“Detection of Enterobacteriaceae Isolates Carrying Metallo-Beta-Lactamase -— United States, 2010.” http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/
mmwrhtml/mm5924a5.htm
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
“Guidance for Control of Infections with Carbapenem-Resistant or Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae in Acute Care Facilities.” http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5810a4.htm
“Experts said that there isn’t likely to be a vaccine for this type of infection, ...” Experts?
Not only is it super bugs, but these diets for cholesterol cause deficiencies in Iodine, and the new sea salt craze just adds to it, and when the doctors throw in a low sodium diet you are screwed.
Eggs, cheese and meat beyond iodized salt are the main sources of Iodine. Read a label and you won’t find the word Iodine on it. And with the new ‘truth in labeling law’ it has to be listed even if it provides 0 nutrition.
Ask my thyroid what these two waring diets did to it. Took and Endocrinologist to fix the mess the PCP and the ENT created.
Bump to that USA Today article. Excellent for a lib publication.
I am generally suspicious of primarily “nosocomial”, or hospital acquired infections, for the simple reason that hospitals are not particularly septic compared to many other places, such as prisons, locker rooms, etc.
If a pathogen is strong enough to be nosocomial, then it should be rampant in those other places.
Instead, suspicion should first fall on improper administration of antibiotics. There is still no disciplined doctrine for their proper use, so prescription varies widely between doctors.
Importantly, often when strict discipline is imposed, the number of nosocomial patients drops drastically.
By all means lets keep injecting cattle, etc., with gargantuan amounts of anti-biotics until anti-biotics are rendered completely useless. Got a dangerous tooth infection that requires anti-biotics? Too bad, so sad. You will just have to die from the infection. And store shelves are still crammed with anti-bacterial soaps, etc. And doctors still give out anti-biotics like candy, even for non serious things.
ping
Too bad the scientists didn’t name this bug after Obama.
Andromeda strain reprise.
...as if we don’t have enough to worry about!
Impossible! I have been repeatedly told that there is no such thing as evolution, evolutionary change is not science, that all change will make an organism less fit as it changes it away from the way God created it; so there couldn’t possibly be a “New Bacteria” that is antibiotic resistant!/s
Doctors who prescribe antibiotics for viral infections should lose their medical licenses.
Immigrants from countries where antibiotics are available over-the-counter should be denied entry into the country.
Antibiotic resistant bacteria are serious, but nobody seems to be willing to deal with it that way!
Third leading cause of deaths in the USA, death by doctors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JF7TcPsmvI
I can’t help but wonder if anyone has tested these “superbugs” for resistance to “obsolete” drugs — such as the sulfa drugs that saved many GIs’ lives in WWII...