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DocWatch antibiotic resistance Twitterit? News stories about "antibiotic resistance," with punchlines: http://apocadocs.com/d.pl?antibiotic+resistance Related Scary Tags: health impacts  ~ corporate farming  ~ pandemic  ~ superbugs  ~ contamination  ~ pharmwater  ~ unintended consequences  ~ food safety  ~ toxic water  ~ climate impacts  ~ holyshit   Tue, Jan 5, 2016 from Washington Post: What scientists just discovered in Greenland could be making sea-level rise even worse Rising global temperatures may be affecting the Greenland ice sheet -- and its contribution to sea-level rise -- in more serious ways that scientists imagined, a new study finds. Recent changes to the island's snow and ice cover appear to have affected its ability to store excess water, meaning more melting ice may be running off into the ocean than previously thought.... Through on-the-ground observations, the scientists have shown that the recent formation of dense ice layers near the ice sheet's surface are making it more difficult for liquid water to percolate into the firn -- meaning it's forced to run off instead. ... Greenland is going green. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Dec 7, 2015 from Washington Post: Superbug known as 'phantom menace' on the rise in U.S. ...This superbug's strains belong to the family of bacteria known as CRE, which are difficult to treat because they are often resistant to most antibiotics. They are often deadly, too, in some instances killing up to 50 percent of patients who become infected, according to the CDC. Health officials have called CRE among the country's most urgent public health threats.... This type of CRE has had a lower profile because it's actually less antibiotic-resistant than other more common types of CRE. As a result, it hasn't been a frequent focus of testing and has largely escaped detection by health officials, prompting some researchers to dub it "the phantom menace." ... As long as Natalie Portman is somehow involved, we'll be fine. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jan 8, 2015 from BBC: Antibiotics: US discovery labelled 'game-changer' for medicine The heyday of antibiotic discovery was in the 1950s and 1960s, but nothing found since 1987 has made it into doctor's hands. Since then microbes have become incredibly resistant. Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis ignores nearly everything medicine can throw at it. Back to soil: The researchers, at the Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, turned to the source of nearly all antibiotics - soil. This is teeming with microbes, but only 1 percent can be grown in the laboratory. The team created a "subterranean hotel" for bacteria. One bacterium was placed in each "room" and the whole device was buried in soil. It allowed the unique chemistry of soil to permeate the room, but kept the bacteria in place for study.... The lead scientist, Prof Kim Lewis, said: "So far 25 new antibiotics have been discovered using this method and teixobactin is the latest and most promising one.... Tests on teixobactin showed it was toxic to bacteria, but not mammalian tissues, and could clear a deadly dose of MRSA in tests on mice. ... This would be so exciting if Big Ag wasn't trying to wipe out all soil bacteria everywhere, as a precondition for using the dead top-substrate as a medium to grow corn and soybeans. So much fewer weeds, right? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Dec 5, 2014 from Salon: The post-antibiotic future is here: Chilling report highlights the reality of a global crisis In India, that future is already here. The New York Times has a distressing report on the epidemic of antibiotic resistant "superbugs" killing the country's newborns by the tens of thousands: "Five years ago, we almost never saw these kinds of infections," said Dr. Neelam Kler, chairwoman of the department of neonatology at New Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, one of India's most prestigious private hospitals. "Now, close to 100 percent of the babies referred to us have multidrug resistant infections. It's scary." These babies are part of a disquieting outbreak. A growing chorus of researchers say the evidence is now overwhelming that a significant share of the bacteria present in India -- in its water, sewage, animals, soil and even its mothers -- are immune to nearly all antibiotics. ... We can't even call them "anti"biotics anymore! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jul 27, 2014 from The Independent (UK): Drug-resistant bacteria: Sewage-treatment plants described as giant 'mixing vessels' after scientists discover mutated microbes in British river Superbugs resistant to some of the most powerful antibiotics in the medical arsenal have been found for the first time in a British river - with scientists pinpointing a local sewage-treatment plant as the most likely source. Scientists discovered the drug-resistant bacteria in sediment samples taken downstream of the sewerage plant on the River Sowe near Coventry. The microbes contained mutated genes that confer resistance to the latest generation of antibiotics. The researchers believe the discovery shows how antibiotic resistance has become widespread in the environment, with sewage-treatment plants now acting as giant "mixing vessels" where antibiotic resistance can spread between different microbes. ... I prefer to pretend that I simply do not produce anything that could be classified as "sewage." ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 12, 2014 from Guardian: Antibiotic resistance: 6 diseases that may come back to haunt us Diseases we thought were long gone, nothing to worry about, or easy to treat could come back with a vengeance, according to the recent World Health Organisation report on global antibiotic resistance.... Tuberculosis... Gonorrhoea... Klebsiella... Typhus... Syphillis... Diphtheria. ... Will it do any good to say that antibiotic resistance is a natural outcome of God's will? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Feb 17, 2014 from CNN: Chick-fil-A to serve antibiotic-free chicken ...Chick-fil-A Inc. announced plans Tuesday to use chicken raised without antibiotics in all of its restaurants within five years. National and regional poultry suppliers are partnering with the company to stock up. Chik-fil-A wants these suppliers to collaborate with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure the chickens do not receive any antibiotics.... Chick-fil-A's announcement comes amid a growing awareness about the problem of antibiotic resistance. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said that antibiotics in livestock are contributing to the rise of dangerous bacteria. Many antibiotics that farmers give food-producing animals are also used to treat sick humans. ... Wonder what the cows have to say about this. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Nov 17, 2013 from The Independent: 'Superbugs could erase a century of medical advances,' experts warn Drug-resistant "superbugs" represent one of the gravest threats in the history of medicine, leading experts have warned. Routine operations could become deadly "in the very near future" as bacteria evolve to resist the drugs we use to combat them. This process could erase a century of medical advances, say government doctors in a special editorial in The Lancet health journal. Although the looming threat of antibiotic, or anti-microbial, resistance has been known about for years, the new warning reflects growing concern that the NHS and other national health systems, already under pressure from ageing populations, will struggle to cope with the rising cost of caring for people in the "post-antibiotic era". ... Holy supershit! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 1, 2013 from Environmental Research Web: Antibacterial products fuel resistant bacteria in streams and rivers Invented for surgeons in the 1960s, triclosan slows or stops the growth of bacteria, fungi, and mildew. Currently, around half of liquid soaps contain the chemical, as well as toothpastes, deodorants, cosmetics, liquid cleansers, and detergents. Triclosan enters streams and rivers through domestic wastewater, leaky sewer infrastructure, and sewer overflows, with residues now common throughout the United States. Emma Rosi-Marshall, one of the paper's authors and an aquatic ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York explains: "The bacterial resistance caused by triclosan has real environmental consequences. Not only does it disrupt aquatic life by changing native bacterial communities, but it's linked to the rise of resistant bacteria that could diminish the usefulness of important antibiotics." ... I think it's time to declare war on bacteria. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Sep 19, 2013 from Alternet: How Chicken Is Killing the Planet Earlier this month, while you were busy sneaking out of your empty office, hoping nobody would notice your starting the holiday weekend early, the USDA was also doing something it was hoping nobody would notice. It was green-lighting the sale of Chinese processed American chicken. As Politico explained, "U.S. officials have given the thumbs-up to four Chinese poultry plants, paving the way for the country to send processed chicken to American markets." But while, "eat first, China will only be able to process chicken that has been slaughtered in the U.S. or other certified countries," that should not be a comfort to fans of the McNugget, Campbell's chicken soup, or any other processed chicken product...Meat is already the No. 1 contributor to climate change. Don't expect shipping slaughtered chickens 7,000 miles to China and then bringing them back as processed food to lower that carbon footprint. And, of course, the Chinese poultry industry has its own dirty laundry, including a current bird flu outbreak, believed to have "evolved from migratory birds via waterfowl to poultry and into people," and already responsible for 44 deaths; the sale of 46- year-old chicken feet; and exporting tainted dog treats, sickening nearly a thousand American pets. ... Let them eat drywall. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 17, 2013 from CNN: CDC sets threat levels for drug-resistant bacteria ... For the first time, the CDC is categorizing antibiotic-resistant organisms by threat level. That's because, in their conservative estimates, more than 2 million people get antibiotic-resistant infections each year, and at least 23,000 die because current drugs no longer stop their infections.... So the CDC is ranking the worst drug-resistant bacteria according to how many people get sick, the number of hospitalizations and the number of deaths caused by each. They also took into account how many, if any, existing antibiotics still work on the bacteria. Instead of red, orange or yellow -- the levels once used to describe terrorism threats -- the CDC is using "urgent," "serious" and "concerning." ... This serious issue of antibiotic resistance is not just concerning, but rather urgent. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 18, 2013 from New York Times: Report on U.S. Meat Sounds Alarm on Resistant Bacteria More than half of samples of ground turkey, pork chops and ground beef collected from supermarkets for testing by the federal government contained a bacteria resistant to antibiotics, according to a new report highlighting the findings. The data, collected in 2011 by the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System -- a joint program of the Food and Drug Administration, the Agriculture Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- show a sizable increase in the amount of meat contaminated with antibiotic-resistant forms of bacteria, known as superbugs, like salmonella, E. coli and campylobacter.... The Agriculture Department has confirmed that almost 80 percent of all antibiotics sold in the United States are used in animal agriculture, and public health authorities around the world increasingly are warning that antibiotic resistance is reaching alarming levels. "We don't have a problem with treating animals with antibiotics when they are sick," Ms. Undurraga said. "But just feeding them antibiotics to make them get bigger faster at a lower cost poses a real problem for public health." ... My biota are feeling particularly "anti" today. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 18, 2013 from Eurekalert: Despite superbug crisis, progress in antibiotic development 'alarmingly elusive' Despite the desperate need for new antibiotics to combat increasingly deadly resistant bacteria, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved only one new systemic antibiotic since the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) launched its 10 x '20 Initiative in 2010 -- and that drug was approved two and a half years ago. In a new report, published online today in Clinical Infectious Diseases, IDSA identified only seven new drugs in development for the treatment of infections caused by multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacilli (GNB) bacteria. GNB, which include the "nightmare bacteria" to which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) alerted the public in its March 2013 Vital Signs report, represent the most pressing medical need. Importantly, there is no guarantee that any of the drugs currently in development to treat GNB will make it across the finish line to FDA approval and none of them will work against the most resistant bugs we're worried about today. ... There are alternatives. ApocaDoc permalink Want more context? Try reading our book FREE online: Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! More fun than a barrel of jellyfish! Mon, Apr 1, 2013 from New York Times: Study Shows Bacteria Moves From Animals to Humans A new study used genetic sequencing to establish that a strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has been transmitted from farm animals to people, a connection that the food industry has long disputed. ... It's strangely as if humans are somehow related to animals. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 12, 2013 from Guardian: New wave of 'superbugs' poses dire threat, says chief medical officer Antibiotic-resistant bacteria with the potential to cause untreatable infections pose "a catastrophic threat" to the population, England's chief medical officer warns in a report calling for urgent action worldwide. If tough measures are not taken to restrict the use of antibiotics and no new ones are discovered, said Dame Sally Davies, "we will find ourselves in a health system not dissimilar to the early 19th century at some point". While antibiotics are failing, new bacterial diseases are on the rise. Although the "superbugs" MRSA and C difficile have been reduced to low numbers in hospitals, there has been an alarming increase in other types of bacteria including new strains of E coli and Klebsiella, which causes pneumonia. ... Bleede him! Those humours are out of alliance! Spleen is being o'erwrought by Bile! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 21, 2013 from EcoWatch: How Factory Farming Contributes to Global Warming ... Today, nearly 65 billion animals worldwide, including cows, chickens and pigs, are crammed into CAFOs ... CAFOs contribute directly to global warming by releasing vast amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere -- more than the entire global transportation industry. The air at some factory farm test sites in the U.S. is dirtier than in America's most polluted cities, according to the Environmental Integrity Project. According to a 2006 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), animal agriculture is responsible for 18 percent of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, including 37 percent of methane emissions and 65 percent of nitrous oxide emissions. The methane releases from billions of imprisoned animals on factory farms are 70 times more damaging per ton to the earth's atmosphere than CO2... Nitrous oxide pollution is even worse than methane -- 200 times more damaging per ton than CO2. And just as animal waste leaches antibiotics and hormones into ground and water, pesticides and fertilizers also eventually find their way into our waterways, further damaging the environment. ... That is, like, almost 10 animals per human! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Dec 31, 2012 from UPI: MRSA detected in milk samples in Britain A strain of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was found in British milk, indicating the superbug is spreading in livestock, researchers say. Mark Holmes of the department of veterinary medicine at Cambridge University, who first identified MRSA in milk in 2011, said the latest finding of a different strain -- MRSA ST398 in seven samples of bulk milk from five British farms -- was a concern. ... Apocalypse cow! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Nov 7, 2012 from Baltimore Sun: 'Superbug' found in US wastewater treatment plants Hospitals aren't the only places where people can pick up a nasty "superbug." A University of Maryland-led team of researchers has found methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, at sewage treatment plants in the mid-Atlantic and the Midwest.... The study found MRSA in 83 percent of the raw sewage entering the plants, but the incidence declined as the sewage progressed through the treatment process. Only one plant still had the bacteria in its fully treated water, researchers found, and that facility did not regularly use chlorination to finish disinfecting its wastewater. MRSA is a well-known problem in hospitals, where patients have picked up potentially fatal bacterial infections that do not respond to antibiotic treatment. But since the late 1990s, it's also been showing up in otherwise healthy people outside of health-care facilities, prompting a search for sources in the wider community. ... But I thought... when you flushed... it just went away! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 4, 2012 from New York Times: Stanford Scientists Cast Doubt on Advantages of Organic Meat and Produce ... Stanford University scientists have weighed in on the ... debate after an extensive examination of four decades of research comparing organic and conventional foods. They concluded that fruits and vegetables labeled organic were, on average, no more nutritious than their conventional counterparts, which tend to be far less expensive. Nor were they any less likely to be contaminated by dangerous bacteria like E. coli. The researchers also found no obvious health advantages to organic meats. Conventional fruits and vegetables did have more pesticide residue, but the levels were almost always under the allowed safety limits, the scientists said. ... Seems like it would cost more for all the fancy pesticides and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Aug 31, 2012 from Chicago Tribune: Closure of Chicago's Crawford, Fisk electric plants ends coal era The Fisk power plant, in service since 1903, burned its final batch of coal Thursday while its sister plant Crawford shut down by Wednesday, ending Chicago's run as the only major U.S. city with two coal plants operating in its borders. Their closings, confirmed by owner Midwest Generation, eliminate Chicago's two biggest industrial sources of carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to global warming. At their peak the plants supplied power to roughly 1 million homes. ... I'm already feeling nostalgic. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jun 6, 2012 from CNN: WHO: Sexually-transmitted superbug could be major crisis Australia, France, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom are among the countries reporting cases of gonorrhea that does not respond to cephalosporin antibiotics, which is the last treatment option against gonorrhea. These are developed countries with good health care systems, meaning countries less well off may be even more at risk for a crisis. "If the resistence is there, what we think is that we're sitting at a tip of an iceberg," Lusti-Narasimhan said. "For places in many other parts of the world where there are much less both human and financial resources, it's very difficult to know the extent of the data." ... What's the sound of one iceberg Clapping? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, May 15, 2012 from Chicago Tribune: American livestock get extra dose of antibiotics from spent ethanol grain, report says As the battle wages on over the safety of feeding antibiotics to livestock for growth promotion, a new report reveals yet another source of unregulated antibiotics in American animal feed--spent ethanol grain... When the Food and Drug Administration discovered the antibiotic residues in the grain in 2008, it started requiring ethanol/distiller grain producers to get approval for their presence as a food additive. But the IATP report claims that the antibiotic companies are skirting this rule by relying on their self affirmed GRAS status as approval enough. GRAS (generally recognized as safe) approval requires only that a company proves to itself that its product is safe. It can voluntarily report those findings to the FDA as well. ... Our ass is GRAS. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, May 8, 2012 from Bloomberg News: Drug-Defying Germs From India Speed Post-Antibiotic Era ...Poor hygiene has spread resistant germs into India's drains, sewers and drinking water, putting millions at risk of drug-defying infections. Antibiotic residues from drug manufacturing, livestock treatment and medical waste have entered water and sanitation systems, exacerbating the problem. As the superbacteria take up residence in hospitals, they're compromising patient care and tarnishing India's image as a medical tourism destination. ... Superbacteria sounds like a tourism destination to me! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, May 8, 2012 from Chronicle of Higher Education: As Beef Cattle Become Behemoths, Who Are Animal Scientists Serving? Scores of animal scientists employed by public universities have helped pharmaceutical companies persuade farmers and ranchers to use antibiotics, hormones, and drugs like Zilmax to make their cattle grow bigger ever faster. With the use of these products, the average weight of a fattened steer sold to a packing plant is now roughly 1,300 pounds--up from 1,000 pounds in 1975. It's been a profitable venture for the drug companies, as well as for the professors and their universities. ... You could call it a cash cow. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Apr 11, 2012 from New York Times: U.S. Tightens Rules on Antibiotics Use for Livestock Farmers and ranchers will for the first time be required to get a prescription from a veterinarian before using antibiotics in cattle, pigs, chickens and other animals, federal food regulators announced on Wednesday. Officials hope the move will slow the indiscriminate use of the drugs, which has made them increasingly ineffective in humans.... The Food and Drug Administration has been taking small steps to try to curb the use of antibiotics on farms, but federal officials said that requiring prescriptions would lead to meaningful reductions in the agricultural use of antibiotics, which are given to promote animal growth. The drug resistance that has developed from that practice has been a growing problem for years and has rendered a number of antibiotics used in humans less and less effective, with deadly consequences. ... I've got my vet on retainer. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Apr 9, 2012 from ScienceDaily: Spectre of Untreatable Malaria: Emergence of Artemisinin-Resistance On Thai-Myanmar Border Evidence that the most deadly species of malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, is becoming resistant to the front line treatment for malaria on the border of Thailand and Myanmar was reported in The Lancet April 5. This increases concern that resistance could now spread to India and then Africa as resistance to other antimalarial drugs has done before. Eliminating malaria might then prove impossible.... Professor Francois Nosten, Director of the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, said: "We have now seen the emergence of malaria resistant to our best drugs, and these resistant parasites are not confined to western Cambodia. This is very worrying indeed and suggests that we are in a race against time to control malaria in these regions before drug resistance worsens and develops and spreads further. The effect of that happening could be devastating. Malaria already kills hundreds of thousands of people a year -- if our drugs become ineffective, this figure will rise dramatically." ... Thailand and Malaria are where, on the map? ApocaDoc permalink You're still reading! Good for you! You really should read our short, funny, frightening book FREE online (or buy a print copy): Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! We've been quipping this stuff for more than 30 months! Every day! Which might explain why we don't get invited to parties anymore. Sat, Apr 7, 2012 from New York Times: Arsenic, Cipro, Benadryl, Caffeine, Tylenol in Factory Farmed Chicken Feed [M]y topic today is a pair of new scientific studies suggesting that poultry on factory farms are routinely fed caffeine, active ingredients of Tylenol and Benadryl, banned antibiotics and even arsenic. "We were kind of floored," said Keeve E. Nachman, a co-author of both studies and a scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Center for a Livable Future. "It's unbelievable what we found."... [They found that] feather meal routinely contained a banned class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones. These antibiotics (such as Cipro), are illegal in poultry production because they can breed antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" that harm humans. Already, antibiotic-resistant infections kill more Americans annually than AIDS, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America. The same study also found that one-third of feather-meal samples contained an antihistamine that is the active ingredient of Benadryl. The great majority of feather meal contained acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. And feather-meal samples from China contained an antidepressant that is the active ingredient in Prozac. ... They threw in the chicken sink. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Feb 21, 2012 from London Independent: Experts fear diseases 'impossible to treat' Britain is facing a "massive" rise in antibiotic-resistant blood poisoning caused by the bacterium E.coli -- bringing closer the spectre of diseases that are impossible to treat. Experts say the growth of antibiotic resistance now poses as great a threat to global health as the emergence of new diseases such as Aids and pandemic flu. Professor Peter Hawkey, a clinical microbiologist and chair of the Government's antibiotic-resistance working group, said that antibiotic resistance had become medicine's equivalent of climate change. ... Don't tell me: I'll bet it's a perfect storm. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 9, 2012 from Medical News Today: Gonorrhea Drug Resistance Alarming Over the last three years, gonorrhea has become increasingly harder to treat with antibiotics, making it now a reality that perhaps we may be facing a gonorrhea strain for which no current medications would be effective, researchers from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine reported in NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine).... According to the CDC, the number of reported Gonococcal strains with cephalosporin resistance has increase dramatically over the last three years. An alarming proportion of gonorrhea cases today in the USA include isolates that are resistant to the most commonly prescribed cephalosporin - cefixime.... The problem with gonorrhea is that we have nothing to replace cephalosporins. ... I don't feel like clapping. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jan 17, 2012 from Discovery Channel: Antibiotics Breed Drug-Resistant Bacteria in Pigs After giving pigs a low-dose of antibiotics for just two weeks, researchers detected a drastic rise in the number of E. coli bacteria in the guts of the animals. And those bacteria showed a large jump in resistance to antibiotics. The particular strain of E. coli detected in the study was not pathogenic to pigs or humans. But the results add to concerns that regular use of antibiotics in farm animals could spread dangerous and drug-resistant varieties of bacteria throughout the environment and into our food and water... "This is an exciting study because it goes beyond what anyone else has done and looks at the whole ecology of the animal's intestinal tract," said microbiologist Stuart Levy, director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance at Tufts University in Boston. "It shows that a low-dose of antibiotic can have a broad effect on the flora of animals," he said... ... When pigs jump! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jan 10, 2012 from Wired Science: India Reports Completely Drug-Resistant TB Over the past 48 hours, news has broken in India of the existence of at least 12 patients infected with tuberculosis that has become resistant to all the drugs used against the disease. Physicians in Mumbai are calling the strain TDR, for Totally Drug-Resistant. In other words, it is untreatable as far as they know.... "The cases we clinically isolate are just the tip of the iceberg." And as a followup, the Hindustan Times reported yesterday that most hospitals in the city -- by extension, most Indian cities -- don't have the facilities to identify the TDR strain, making it more likely that unrecognized cases can go on to infect others.... ... That's Dreadfully Real. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jan 4, 2012 from International Business Times: FDA Withdraws Longstanding Petition to Regulate Antibiotics in Livestock Feed The U.S. Food and Drug and Administration announced only days before Christmas that it has decided to back off a 34-year attempt to regulate the use of antibiotics in livestock feed for animals intended for human consumption, despite mounting scientific evidence that has linked the practice to the development of potentially fatal antibiotic-resistant superbugs in humans. With no other notice aside from an obscure posting in the Federal Register on Dec. 22, the FDA declared it will now focus on encouraging "voluntary reform" within the industry instead of enforcing actual regulatory action, in addition to the "promotion of the judicious use of antimicrobials in the interest of public health." ... Livestock: volunteer to not be pumped full of antibiotics by raising your hoof! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Nov 29, 2011 from ScienceDaily: Antibiotics in Swine Feed Encourage Microorganism Gene Exchange A study to be published in the online journal mBio® on Nov. 29 shows that adding antibiotics to swine feed causes microorganisms in the guts of these animals to start sharing genes that could spread antibiotic resistance. Livestock farms use antibiotic drugs regularly, and not just for curing sick animals. Antimicrobial drugs are used as feed additives to boost animal growth, a profitable but controversial practice that is now banned in the European Union and under scrutiny here in the United States. Using antibiotics in animal feed saves farms money, but opponents argue the practice encourages antimicrobial resistance among bacteria that could well be consumed by humans.... Prophages underwent a significant increase in induction when exposed to antibiotics, indicating that medicating the animals led to increased movement of prophage genes among gut bacteria. "Induction of the prophages is showing us that antibiotics are stimulating gene transfer," says Allen. "This is significant because phages have previously been shown to carry bacterial fitness genes such as antibiotic resistance genes." ... I don't think we want to be turning amateur phages into prophages, do we? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 27, 2011 from Environmental Health News: Organic farming reduces antibiotic resistant bacteria. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria were less common on chicken farms that had recently switched to organic farming practices when compared to those that continued to use conventional farming practices, finds a study of organic poultry farms in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The results are published online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The results show that reducing nontherapeutic use of antibiotics also reduces antibiotic-resistant bacteria in chickens and their waste materials. It is one of the first to examine the changes on farms in the United States. The findings agree with prior studies from Europe and Asia that report similar results: less antibiotic use means fewer resistant bacteria in the animals and food products. In conventional chicken farming, antibiotic use goes beyond just treating sick chickens. The drugs are often added to feed to promote the growth of chickens living in crowded poultry houses. Antibiotics use increased during the 1990s and a large portion of that increase was due to these so-called nontherapeutic uses. However, this kind of overuse can increase antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the facilities. The bacteria can then spread to people by either direct contact with the animals, through the handling and eating of meat products and via manure spread on crops and farmland. ... The sky is still falling, just not as bacterially! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 20, 2011 from London Independent: Antibiotics losing the fight against deadly bacteria Our last line of defence against bacterial infections is fast becoming weakened by a growing number of deadly strains that are resistant to even the strongest antibiotics, according to new figures given to The Independent on Sunday by the Health Protection Agency (HPA). The disturbing statistics reveal an explosion in cases of super-resistant strains of bacteria such as E.coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, a cause of pneumonia and urinary tract infections, in less than five years.... Years of over-prescribing antibiotics, bought over the counter in some countries, and their intensive use in animals, enabling resistant bacteria to enter the food chain, are among the factors behind the global spread...In a statement issued during a WHO conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, last week, the organisation warned that doctors and scientists throughout Europe fear the "reckless use of antibiotics" risks a "return to a pre-antibiotic era where simple infections do not respond to treatment, and routine operations and interventions become life-threatening." ... Just so we have more than fireflies to light our operating rooms. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 30, 2011 from Wired Science: Antibiotics: Killing Off Beneficial Bacteria ... for Good? But implicit in that concept is the expectation that, after a while -- after a course of antibiotics ends -- the gut flora repopulate and their natural balance returns. What if that expectation were wrong? In a provocative editorial published this week in Nature, Martin Blaser of New York University's Langone Medical Center argues that antibiotics' impact on gut bacteria is permanent -- and so serious in its long-term consequences that medicine should consider whether to restrict antibiotic prescribing to pregnant women and young children. Early evidence from my lab and others hints that, sometimes, our friendly flora never fully recover. These long-term changes to the beneficial bacteria within people's bodies may even increase our susceptibility to infections and disease. Overuse of antibiotics could be fuelling the dramatic increase in conditions such as obesity, type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies and asthma, which have more than doubled in many populations.... Among the findings he cites in support: The population-level observation that the incidence of infection with H. pylori, the bacterial cause of gastric ulcers, has declined over decades just as the incidence of esophageal cancer has risen. In addition, he offers his own research group's observation that children who don't acquire H. pylori are at greater risk of developing allergy and asthma, and their findings that eradicating H. pylori affects the production of the two hormones, ghrelin and leptin, that play a role in weight gain. ... I say, kill 'em all, and let evolution sort 'em out. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Aug 17, 2011 from Wired Science: Ringing the Warning Bell: Colistin-Resistant Klebsiella In all the latest bad news about bacteria becoming highly resistant -- through carbapenem resistance, or the "Indian supergene" NDM-1 -- there has been one hopeful thread: All of the organisms have remained susceptible to one very old, little-used drug called colistin. That might be about to change. Which would be very, very bad news. Writing in a recent issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, faculty from the University of Pittsburgh say they saw five patients last year with colistin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, a Gram-negative bacterium that is a frequent cause of very serious hospital infections and that has already become resistant to multiple classes of drugs.... There are a couple of observations that can be teased out of these cases. The first is that these infections tend to happen to people who are already very sick: in need of a transplant; or having gotten a transplant, and on immune system-suppressing drugs; or with traumatic injury. They are people who would have been at risk for hospital-acquired infections. The second is how these unexpectedly resistant hospital infections complicate the course of an already-sick patient. The victims in this outbreak were in the hospital from six weeks, in the shortest course, to six months in the longest. The third is that some treatment is thankfully still possible. The organism -- which was identical in four of the patients and negligibly different in the fifth -- still responded to tigecycline, a relatively new drug. But in the table of susceptibility and resistance published in the journal, tigecycline was manifestly the only drug that still worked. ... My certainty that technology will conquer nature is being challenged. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Aug 8, 2011 from TreeHugger: USDA Hides Damning Report Of Antibiotic Abuse on Factory Farms We've covered before the horrible consequences of constantly given factory farm animals antibiotics so they don't get sick in the sickening conditions we make them live. And recently the USDA commissioned a report reviewing the current research on antibiotics, antibiotic resistant infections and farm animals. The report was pretty damning of current industry practices, as Tom Philpott summarizes over at Mother Jones. Perhaps even more disturbing, though, is that the document has since disappeared from the USDA website, apparently after the findings upset industry, and the report's author seems to have been prevented from talking to media. Have no fear, there's a cached version: A Focus on Antimicrobial Resistance.... ... Modern agriculture will collapse without sustained, massive, prophylactic abuse of antibiotics! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jul 29, 2011 from Mother Jones: What the USDA Doesn't Want You to Know about Antibiotics and Factory Farms Here is a document the USDA doesn't want you to see. It's what the agency calls a "technical review" -- nothing more than a USDA-contracted researcher's simple, blunt summary of recent academic findings on the growing problem antibiotic-resistant infections and their link with factory animal farms. The topic is a serious one. A single antibiotic-resistant pathogen, MRSA -- just one of many now circulating among Americans -- now claims more lives each year than AIDS.... To understand the USDA's quashing of a report it had earlier commissioned, published, and praised, you first have to understand a key aspect of industrial-scale meat production. You see, keeping animals alive and growing fast under cramped, unsanitary conditions is tricky business....Altogether, the US meat industry uses 29 million pounds of antibiotics every year. To put that number in perspective, consider that we humans in the United States -- in all of our prescription fill-ups and hospital stays combined -- use just over 7 million pounds per year. ... A tricky business well worth my classic monster happy whopper meal! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jul 11, 2011 from ABC News: Super Gonorrhea: Scientists Discover Antibiotic-Resistant STD Scientists have discovered a new strain of gonorrhea-causing bacteria in Japan that is resistant to available treatments. Since the 1940s, the sexually transmitted disease known as "the clap" has been easily treated with antibiotics. But the new strain of Neisseria gonorrhoeae has genetically mutated to evade cephalosporins -- the only antibiotics still effective against the infection. "This is both an alarming and a predictable discovery," lead researcher Magnus Unemo, professor at the Swedish Reference Laboratory for Pathogenic Neisseria in Orebro, Sweden, said in a statement. "Since antibiotics became the standard treatment for gonorrhea in the 1940s, this bacterium has shown a remarkable capacity to develop resistance mechanisms to all drugs introduced to control it." ... No clapping allowed. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, May 31, 2011 from Huffington Post: NDM-1 Superbug Acquired In Canada Canadian researchers have identified what appears to be the first domestically acquired case of an NDM-1 superbug. An 86-year-old Ontario man was found to be carrying bacteria resistant to most antibiotics because of NDM-1, or New Delhi metallo-1, an enzyme that alters the DNA of various types of bacteria. NDM-1 is endemic in India and Pakistan and has spread worldwide due to global travel. But the patient, who was admitted to hospital and then a rehabilitation centre after suffering a stroke last October, had not travelled outside southwestern Ontario for the last decade. None of the man's family members or other close contacts were carrying the superbug, nor had any been to parts of the world where NDM-1 is widespread. ... When did E. coli steal our genetic modification technologies?? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 25, 2011 from NRDC: NRDC et al. Files Lawsuit to Preserve Antibiotics for Sick People, Not Already-Healthy Livestock Today NRDC and our allies filed a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration to finally end the use of antibiotics in animal feed--a practice that's contributing to the rise in drug-resistant superbugs and endangering the health of our families. Roughly 70 percent of all antibiotics used in the United States are given to healthy farm animals to promote faster growth and compensate for unsanitary conditions. These cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys receive doses too low to actually treat disease, but high enough to allow bacteria resistant to antibiotic treatment to survive and thrive. Those bacteria don't stay on the farm. They spread to humans and can lead to superbugs that are difficult or impossible to cure. Last month, for instance, 55,000 pounds of frozen raw turkey burgers had to be recalled because of a salmonella strain the Centers for Disease Control said is immune to commonly prescribed antibiotics.... This lawsuit will have no bearing on the use of antibiotics for treating sick animals. We simply want to end the practice of giving these critical disease fighters to healthy livestock when it's not medically necessary. ... I suppose that means we can't keep our cows locked knee-deep in manure any more. What about the economy? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 11, 2011 from Huffington Post: Bedbugs With Drug-Resistant MRSA 'Superbug' Germ Found Researchers are reporting an alarming combination: bedbugs carrying "superbug" germs. Canadian scientists detected drug-resistant MRSA bacteria in bedbugs from three hospital patients from a downtrodden Vancouver neighborhood. Bedbugs have not been known to spread disease, and there's no clear evidence that the five bedbugs found on the patients or their belongings had spread MRSA or a second less dangerous drug-resistant germ. However, bedbugs can cause itching that can lead to excessive scratching. That can cause breaks in the skin that make people more susceptible to these bacteria, noted Dr. Marc Romney, one of the study's authors. The study is small and very preliminary, "But it's an intriguing finding" that needs to be further researched, said Romney, medical microbiologist at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver. ... Next up: Hemorrhagic fever transmitted by fleas. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Apr 15, 2011 from EurekAlert: Nationwide study finds 1 in 4 samples of US meat and poultry is contaminated with MRSAs Drug-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria linked to a wide range of human diseases, are present in meat and poultry from U.S. grocery stores at unexpectedly high rates, according to a nationwide study by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen). Nearly half of the meat and poultry samples -- 47 percent -- were contaminated with S. aureus, and more than half of those bacteria -- 52 percent -- were resistant to at least three classes of antibiotics, according to the study published today in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. This is the first national assessment of antibiotic resistant S. aureus in the U.S. food supply. And, DNA testing suggests that the food animals themselves were the major source of contamination. ... Rare-meat Roulette. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 7, 2011 from ScienceDaily: Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in New Delhi Public Water Supply Disease-causing bacteria carrying the new genetic resistance to antibiotics, NDM-1, have been discovered in New Delhi's drinking water supply. A Cardiff University-led team found new strains of resistant bacteria in the Indian capital, including species which cause cholera and dysentery. The findings are the first evidence of the environmental spread of NDM-1, which had previously only been found in hospitals. The scientists are calling for urgent action by health authorities worldwide to tackle the new strains and prevent their global spread.... While most patients with the bacteria have recently been hospitalised in India, some cases have occurred there without recent hospital treatment, prompting the team to test the wider environment. Samples were taken in New Delhi from public water taps and from waste seepage, such as water pools in the street. Resistant bacteria were found in 4 per cent of the water supplies and 30 per cent of the seepage sites. The researchers identified 11 new species of bacteria carrying the NDM-1 gene, including strains which cause cholera and dysentry. Antibiotics are used to reduce excretion of bacteria in cholera patients, and to reduce the duration and severity of dysentery. Worryingly, the identified Shigella isolate, which can carry dysentery, is resistant to all appropriate antibiotics.... The research team also believes that temperatures and monsoon flooding make New Delhi ideal for the spread of NDM-1. ... What happens when we see NDM-2, the Sequel? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Apr 2, 2011 from Scientific American: Antibiotic Resistance Is Taking Out 'Last-Resort' Drugs Used to Combat Worrisome Category of Germs There are so many news stories about antibiotic resistance these days that you may be tempted to ignore them all just to preserve your sanity. But there is a kind of hierarchy of danger when it comes to figuring out which stories are most deserving of your attention. Anytime you hear that a particular bacterium has become resistant to a "drug of last resort," that is bad. Drugs of last resort--such as vancomycin for Staphylococcus infections--are usually the last line of safe, dependable defense for certain kinds of infections. Drug companies can try to come up with new medications to replace the outpaced meds, but that takes time and does not bring in a lot of money, so we are fast running out of drugs of last resort.... As Maryn McKenna explains in "The Enemy Within," antibiotic resistance in the gram-negative bacteria is particularly worrisome because Gram-negative germs are more likely than Gram-positive ones to share the genes responsible for drug resistance across species. Her story is doubly alarming because it provides a detailed look at how resistance has developed in the U.S. against drugs of last resort (really bad) in Gram-negative bacteria (really, really bad). As if that were not bad enough, clinicians are now starting to see drug resistance in whole new categories of pathogens--such as fungi. Perhaps the worst news of all, however, is that even if antibiotics are used correctly, they may be contributing to the drug-resistance problem. Because even proper use of antibiotics creates an environment in which microbes with resistance genes are favored to survive. ... Can't we just define germs as "asymmetric terrorists" and declare a war? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 22, 2011 from Scientific American: The Enemy Within: A New Pattern of Antibiotic Resistance A new pattern of resistance has emerged among a particularly challenging group of bacteria called the gram-negatives; it threatens to make many common infections untreatable.... The bacterial genes responsible confer resistance to the carbapenems, a group of so-called last-resort antibiotics. Two of the most important resistance genes are dubbed NDM-1 and KPC. Carbapenem resistance in gram-negative bacteria is especially worrisome because these germs are ubiquitous and share genes easily. Plus, no new drugs for these bugs are being developed. This confluence of factors means many people in hospitals and in the wider community could die of newly untreatable infections of the urinary tract, blood and other tissues. ... Carbapenem resistance? Carpe diem. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Dec 15, 2010 from Los Angeles Times: Livestock in U.S. gobble up the antibiotics The U.S.-raised animals we eat consumed about 29 million pounds of antibiotics in the last year alone, according to a first-ever Food and Drug Administration accounting of antimicrobial drug use by the American livestock industry... Farmers feed these medications to the animals they raise for market in an effort to prevent disease from spreading among flocks of poultry and herds of livestock living in crowded and often unsanitary conditions. The medications also promote faster growth in many animals. The ubiquitous use of these medications is controversial because they are used to counter the effects of raising livestock in conditions that are unhealthy and widely considered cruel. But they represent a major public health concern too: the widespread administration of antibiotics to prevent infections in animals has made those same antibiotics less effective in fighting off disease in animals and in humans. That is because, when under constant bombardment by existing antibiotic medications, the viruses that cause disease evolve at an accelerated rate just to stay alive. The results: new viruses that are resistant to existing antibiotics, and a population that is is increasingly vulnerable to them. ... If I were a cow I'd be mad as hell about this! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Dec 3, 2010 from PhysOrg: Superantigens could be behind several illnesses Superantigens, the toxins produced by staphylococcus bacteria, are more complex than previously believed, reveals a team of researchers from the University of Gothenburg in an article published today in the scientific journal Nature Communications. Their discovery shows that the body's immune system can cause more illnesses than realised. "Superantigens have a real talent for disrupting the body's immune system," says Karin Lindkvist from the University of Gothenburg's Department of Cell- and Molecular Biology, one of the authors of the article. "If you're infected with bacteria that secrete superantigens, your immune system will respond so strongly that it'll make you ill. Our study shows that superantigens activate the immune system in more ways than previously thought."... The toxins produced by staphylococci are also known as superantigens. A normal viral infection will trigger the activation of around 0.0001 percent of the body's natural killer cells (T cells), which is enough to destroy the virus. However, contracting bacteria that secrete superantigens leads to the activation of 5-20 percent of the body's T cells. Such a strong immune response will often result in illness, which generally involves fever and extreme nausea. Superantigens are also well-known for causing toxic symptoms, as in toxic shock syndrome. There is also some speculation as to whether superantigens can cause autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis. ... Can't we just develop a kryptonite serum for these superantigens? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Nov 2, 2010 from Washington Post: Meat industry unhappy over limiting the use of antibiotics For decades, factory farms have used antibiotics even in healthy animals to promote faster growth and prevent diseases that could sicken livestock held in confined quarters. The benefit: cheaper, more plentiful meat for consumers. But a firestorm has erupted over a federal proposal recommending antibiotics only when animals are actually sick. Medical and public health experts in recent years say overuse and misuse of antibiotics pose a serious public health threat by creating new strains of bacteria that are difficult to treat - both in animals and humans. "Over time, we have created some monster bugs," said Russ Kremer, a Bonnots Mill, Mo., farmer who speaks nationally about the threat to the food supply. "It is truly harmful to everyone to feed antibiotics to animals just for growth promotion and economic gain." ... Broad-spectrum antibiotics are just like vitamins for meat animals, right? What's the harm? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Sep 27, 2010 from Food Safety News: Ag Secretary Vilsack Asked to Clarify Position on Antibiotics Overuse U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) have asked the Obama administration to clarify its position on antibiotic use in food animals.... Responding to a question about legislation Slaughter and Feinstein have proposed, Vilsack reportedly said the use of antibiotics in livestock production cannot be banned, adding "USDA's public position is, and always has been, that antibiotics need to be used judiciously, and we believe they already are."... Those draft FDA recommendations, released for public comment in June, were immediately questioned by industry groups. But some say FDA's proposed guidelines do not go far enough.... According to estimates by the Union of Concerned Scientists, some 50 million pounds -- 70 percent of antibiotics used in the United States each year -- are mixed into animal feed or drinking water to promote growth or compensate for crowded conditions. Meanwhile, there is growing evidence that the antibiotics in meat have led to antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria and have already made some drugs ineffective. ... Not to worry. We'll just designate antibiotics as a "nutritional supplement." Problem solved. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Sep 18, 2010 from New Scientist: Antibiotics play hell with gut flora Antibiotics can cause long-lasting changes in the bacteria living in the human gut. As changes in gut flora could increase the risk of some chronic diseases, such as inflammatory bowel syndrome, each course of antibiotics may represent a trade-off between short-term benefit and long-term risk. Les Dethlefsen and David Relman of Stanford University in California collected more than 50 stool samples from three people over a 10-month period that included two courses of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin. They used gene sequencing to identify the microbial strains present in each sample. They found that each person had a unique set of microbial flora, the composition of which fluctuated around an equilibrium which was disrupted by each course of drugs. In most cases, the composition quickly returned to its previous state, but in a few, bacterial species present before treatment were replaced by related species. One person completely lost a common genus of bacteria, which did not return for the duration of the study ... Who could have predicted that antibiotics would anti my biota? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Sep 16, 2010 from CWRU, via EurekAlert: Case Western Reserve researcher discovers new 'anti-pathogenic' drugs to treat MRSA Menachem Shoham, PhD ... has identified new anti-pathogenic drugs that, without killing the bacteria, render Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) harmless by preventing the production of toxins that cause disease.... Dr. Shoham identified a bacterial protein, known as AgrA, as the key molecule responsible for the release of toxins. AgrA, however, needs to be activated to induce toxin production. His goal was to block the activation of AgrA with a drug, thus preventing the cascade of toxin release into the blood that can lead to serious infections throughout the body.... "It is possible to inhibit virulence of MRSA without killing the bacteria," continued Dr. Shoham. "Such anti-pathogenic drugs may be used for prophylaxis or therapy by themselves or in combination with an antibiotic." ... Excellent! So it's only Mostly Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 14, 2010 from PhysOrg: 'Time bomb' superbug requires global response: doctor A new superbug from India thought to be resistant to nearly every known antibiotic poses a global threat, scientists warned Monday, urging health authorities to track the bacteria. "There is an urgent need, first, to put in place an international surveillance system over the coming months and, second, to test all the patients admitted to any given health system" in as many countries as possible, said Patrice Nordmann of France's Bicetre Hospital. "For the moment, we don't know how fast this phenomenon is spreading... it could take months or years, but what is certain is that is will spread," he told AFP.... The NDM-1 is a gene that produces an enzyme that deactivate basically all antibiotics.... For example, scientists have determined that the NDM gene "is very mobile, hopping from one bacteria to another," he said. ... This Superbug can hop tall bacteria with a single bound! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Sep 11, 2010 from USDA, via EurekAlert: Triclosan eventually biodegrades A study by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and cooperators provides new details about how fertilizing soils with biosolids also introduces triclosan--an antibacterial agent in soaps and other cleaning supplies--into the environment. Farmers add "Class B" biosolids, also known as treated wastewater solids, to their fields as a fertilizer.... The scientists determined that triclosan levels in Class B biosolids from a Mid-Atlantic wastewater treatment plant averaged around 15.5 milligrams per kilogram. They then collected surface soil samples from 26 farms in northern Virginia, mostly from pastures. Some fields had never been amended with biosolids and others had been amended with from one to four applications... The results also suggested biological degradation of triclosans in the soils that had been amended with biosolids resulted in the loss of 78 percent of the triclosan after 7 to 9 months, and that up to 96 percent was removed after 16 months. ... You mean I can still be glad I used Dial?! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Sep 8, 2010 from Uppsala University, via EurekAlert: Turning a new page on antibiotic resistance For 70 years the world has mismanaged the common good of antibiotics. The result is a growing global burden of antibiotic resistance, threatening to take health care back to an era where ordinary infections might once again become fatal. At a historic three day conference at Uppsala University, Sweden, 190 delegates representing 45 countries and many leading stake holders - civil society, academia, industry, governments, authorities, supranational organizations - agreed on Wednesday to turn a new page and move towards concerted action on antibiotic resistance.... * A shared conviction that antibiotic resistance is a universal problem. Like global warming, it requires joint action, not least by governmental alliances. * A strong recommendation to all stakeholders to speed up the efforts to limit unnecessary use of antibiotics, while at the same time making the medicines affordable and accessible in developing countries. * A global network of surveillance will require common methods, and is crucial for both prudent use and needs driven development of new agents.... ... Let's hope that Uppsala doesn't become another Copenhagen. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Aug 29, 2010 from PhysOrg: Pioneering study finds only small amounts of dairy antibiotics in groundwater In the first large study to track the fate of a wide range of antibiotics given to dairy cows, UC Davis scientists found that the drugs routinely end up on the ground and in manure lagoons, but are mostly broken down before they reach groundwater. The findings should help alleviate longstanding fears that dairy farms, and the fields fertilized with their waste, might lead to large-scale groundwater contamination. "What we found is that antibiotics can frequently be found at the manure-affected surfaces of the dairy operation (such as corrals and manure flush lanes) but generally degrade in the top 12 inches of soil," said Thomas Harter, an expert on the effects of agriculture on groundwater quality.... "A very small amount of certain antibiotics do travel into shallow groundwater. Our next task is to determine whether these particular antibiotics are further degraded before reaching domestic and public water wells." ... Was that your longstanding fear of the consequences of massive, indiscriminate, prophylactic use of antibiotics? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Aug 11, 2010 from PhysOrg: International travel increasing spread of new drug-resistant bacteria: Is this the end of antibiotics? A new gene [NDM-1] that enables bacteria to be highly resistant to almost all antibiotics is widespread in Enterobacteriaceae taken from patients in India and Pakistan, and has also been found in UK patients who travelled to India for elective surgery.... In some cases, isolates were resistant to all antibiotics. Importantly, the NDM-1 gene was found to be present on plasmids, DNA structures that can be easily copied and transferred between different bacteria, suggesting: "an alarming potential to spread and diversify among bacterial populations".... They go on: "Even more disturbing is that most of the India isolates from Chennai and Haryana were from community-acquired infections, suggesting that NDM-1 is widespread in the environment."... "India also provides cosmetic surgery for other Europeans and Americans, and it is likely NDM-1 will spread worldwide." ... NDM-1 may just be Nature's Deadly Means of CCS. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jul 19, 2010 from Chicago Tribune: Meat with antibiotics off the menu at some hospitals The evening's menu featured grass-fed, antibiotic-free beef over pasta, fresh seasonal vegetables and fresh organic peaches -- items right at home in the city's finest restaurants. Instead, the dishes were prepared for visitors, staff and bed-bound patients at Swedish Covenant Hospital. The Northwest Side hospital is one of 300 across the nation that have pledged to improve the quality and sustainability of the food they serve, not just for the health of their patients but, they say, the health of the environment and the U.S. population. ... Hospitals being about health? What'll they think of next! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jun 29, 2010 from Washington Post: FDA seeks less use of antibiotics in animals to keep them effective for humans The Food and Drug Administration urged farmers on Monday to stop giving antibiotics to cattle, poultry, hogs and other animals to spur their growth, citing concern that drug overuse is helping to create dangerous bacteria that do not respond to medical treatment and endanger human lives. Joshua M. Sharfstein, the FDA's principal deputy commissioner, said antibiotics should be used only to protect the health of an animal and not to help it grow or improve the way it digests its feed.... The FDA has tried to limit the use of antibiotics in agriculture since 1977, but its efforts have repeatedly collapsed in the face of opposition from the drug industry and farm lobby. But mounting evidence of a global crisis of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has propelled the government to act, said Brad Spellberg, an infectious-diseases specialist and the author of "Rising Plague," a book about antibiotic resistance. ... Antibiotics spur growth? Maybe I should give them to my li'l slugger instead of those expensive steroids! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Apr 16, 2010 from University of Montreal, via EurekAlert: Excessive cleanliness to blame for allergy, autoimmune rise Allergies have become a widespread in developed countries: hay fever, eczema, hives and asthma are all increasingly prevalent. The reason? Excessive cleanliness is to blame according to Dr. Guy Delespesse, a professor at the Université de Montréal Faculty of Medicine.... "There is an inverse relationship between the level of hygiene and the incidence of allergies and autoimmune diseases," says Dr. Delespesse. "The more sterile the environment a child lives in, the higher the risk he or she will develop allergies or an immune problem in their lifetime."... Why does this happen? "The bacteria in our digestive system are essential to digestion and also serve to educate our immune system. They teach it how to react to strange substances. This remains a key in the development of a child's immune system." Although hygiene does reduce our exposure to harmful bacteria it also limits our exposure to beneficial microorganisms. As a result, the bacterial flora of our digestive system isn't as rich and diversified as it used to be. ... Is biodiversity loss inside mirroring biodiversity loss outside? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Apr 13, 2010 from USA Today: 'Growing concern' over marketing tainted beef Beef containing harmful pesticides, veterinary antibiotics and heavy metals is being sold to the public because federal agencies have failed to set limits for the contaminants or adequately test for them, a federal audit finds. A program set up to test beef for chemical residues "is not accomplishing its mission of monitoring the food supply for ... dangerous substances, which has resulted in meat with these substances being distributed in commerce," says the audit by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General. The health effects on people who eat such meat are a "growing concern," the audit adds. ... A "growing concern" in more ways than one! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Apr 12, 2010 from Vancouver Sun: Chemical used in everyday products raises concerns The majority of liquid antibacterial soaps contain triclosan as an active ingredient to stop the growth of bacteria and to deodorize. It is also contained in toothpaste, facewash, deodorants and cosmetics. More recently, triclosan is also being added as a bacteria-killer to countertops, kitchenware, toys and clothes. The FDA told Massachusetts congressman Edward Markey the agency shares his "concern" over the potential effects of triclosan in disrupting the body's endocrine system, so the agency is taking another look at the chemical. "It is the FDA's opinion that existing data raise valid concerns about the effects of repetitive daily human exposure to these antiseptic ingredients."... Smith, who banished triclosan from his home years ago after reading studies identifying the antibacterial agent as a possible carcinogen and endocrine disrupter, saw the levels rise in his body by 2,900 times after using, over a two-day period, brand-name deodorant, toothpaste, anti-bacterial soap and shaving cream containing triclosan. ... But I was so glad I used Dial! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 22, 2010 from EurekAlert: Researchers find Clostridium difficile is more common than MRSA in southeast community hospitals Researchers studying epidemiology of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in community hospitals in the southeast U.S. found that rates of Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) surpassed infection rates for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Scientists also discovered that healthcare-associated CDI, which is a bacterium that causes diarrhea and more serious intestinal conditions such as colitis, occurs more often (21 percent) than healthcare-associated infections due to MRSA. In addition, healthcare-associated CDI occurs approximately as often as healthcare-associated bloodstream infections and combined device-related infections.... "In addition, our study likely underestimates the true scope of the problem since we did not include cases of community-onset healthcare-associated CDI." ... Head's up, skipper -- another dangerous acronym on the horizon! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Mar 19, 2010 from The Age: The ticking TB time bomb Widespread misuse of the antibiotics created to combat tuberculosis -- particularly in the former Soviet Union and China -- has led to drug resistant strains that now infect at least half a million people globally each year, less than 3 per cent of whom receive proper treatment. Big cities with high immigration rates such as London and Paris have also had increases in tuberculosis rates. And the United States last year uncovered its first case of XXDR - extremely, extensively drug resistant tuberculosis, a new and virtually untreatable category - in a 19-year-old Peruvian man studying in Florida.... ''Most developing countries don't survey drug resistance. In Indonesia, we think there are nearly half a million new cases [of tuberculosis] a year and we have no clue whatsoever how many of them are MDR [strains resistant to the main first-line drugs] and XDR.'' ... Laurie Garrett, are your ears burning? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Feb 27, 2010 from New York Times: Rising Threat of Infections Unfazed by Antibiotics ...Acinetobacter baumannii...is one of a category of bacteria that by some estimates are already killing tens of thousands of hospital patients each year. While the organisms do not receive as much attention as the one known as MRSA -- for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus -- some infectious-disease specialists say they could emerge as a bigger threat..."In many respects it's far worse than MRSA," said Dr. Louis B. Rice, an infectious-disease specialist at the Louis Stokes Cleveland V.A. Medical Center and at Case Western Reserve University. ... It better get itself a handy acronym, then. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Feb 26, 2010 from Barnstable Patriot: Cape faces 'daunting challenges' on household chemicals in groundwater The problem of pharmaceutical and personal care product (PPCP) pollution is an issue that is especially dangerous to Cape Cod's water supply, said Dr. Laurel Schaider, staff scientist at the Silent Spring Institute. The Cape's unique combination of reliance on septic systems and almost exclusive use of groundwater, she said, makes it easier for contaminants of concern (COCs) to infiltrate wastewater. Silent Spring Institute maintains a list of potentially hazardous chemicals that includes human and pet prescriptions, cosmetics, caffeine and "endocrine disruptors" such as hormones. In 2005, said Schaider, a U.S. Geological Survey study found 13 such chemicals in Cape groundwater supplies, including antibiotics, a dry-cleaning solvent, an anti-convulsant prescription and acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol. "Everything that goes down your drains and your toilets, that's in the wastewater," she explained. ... I thought when I flushed, it stopped existing. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 11, 2010 from PhysOrg.com: Antibiotics as active mutagens in the emergence of multidrug resistance It is commonly thought that an incomplete course of antibiotics would lead to resistance to that particular antibiotic by allowing the bacteria to make adaptive changes under less stringent conditions.... However, new research... shows that low doses of antibiotics can produce mutant strains that are sensitive to the applied antibiotic but have cross-resistance to other antibiotics. Their findings shed light on one of multiple mechanisms that may contribute to the emergence of multidrug resistant bacterial strains or so called "superbugs". ... I guess my daily homeopathic-level Tetracycline isn't a good idea! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Feb 6, 2010 from London Daily Telegraph: China threatens world health by unleashing waves of superbugs China's reckless use of antibiotics in the health system and agricultural production is unleashing an explosion of drug resistant superbugs that endanger global health, according to leading scientists. Chinese doctors routinely hand out multiple doses of antibiotics for simple maladies like the sore throats and the country's farmers excessive dependence on the drugs has tainted the food chain. Studies in China show a "frightening" increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as staphylococcus aureus bacteria, also know as MRSA. There are warnings that new strains of antibiotic-resistant bugs will spread quickly through international air travel and internation[al] food sourcing. ... China: petri dish for the Apocalypse! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jan 2, 2010 from Los Angeles Times: Study bolsters concerns that disinfectants create superbugs Disinfectants, be they hand sanitizers or industrial-strength cleaners, present a hospital's first blockade against bacterial infection. But this same weapon may be helping create stronger microbial enemies: superbugs that are resistant to disinfectants and commonly used antibiotics, scientists report in the January issue of the journal Microbiology.... If hospital workers do not use enough disinfectant for a long enough period of time to kill every last bacterium on a surface, they could be providing an ideal breeding ground for new superbugs, [National University of Ireland microbiologist Gerard] Fleming concluded. "Absolutely and certainly you must use disinfectant in hospital environments," he said. "The message, for heaven's sake, is use disinfectants properly." ... Something tell me, no matter what... one mutant will survive! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jan 2, 2010 from Associated Press: Solution to Killer Superbug Found in Norway Aker University Hospital is a dingy place to heal. The floors are streaked and scratched. A light layer of dust coats the blood pressure monitors. A faint stench of urine and bleach wafts from a pile of soiled bedsheets dropped in a corner. Look closer, however, at a microscopic level, and this place is pristine. There is no sign of a dangerous and contagious staph infection that killed tens of thousands of patients in the most sophisticated hospitals of Europe, North America and Asia this year, soaring virtually unchecked. The reason: Norwegians stopped taking so many drugs. Twenty-five years ago, Norwegians were also losing their lives to this bacteria. But Norway's public health system fought back with an aggressive program that made it the most infection-free country in the world. A key part of that program was cutting back severely on the use of antibiotics. ... Sounds like a good 2010 resolution for us all. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Dec 31, 2009 from Newcastle Journal: Scientists fear life-saving drugs could soon be useless DECADES of man-made pollution of the environment is leaving a legacy which could see disease-fighting drugs rendered increasingly ineffective, North East scientists fear. Soil studies by a Newcastle University team indicate a rising level of bacteria in nature with a gene which is resistant to the antibiotic drugs that have improved health dramatically over the last 50 years or so. A rising "background" level of resistance makes it more likely that pathogenic, or disease-causing bacteria, acquire the resistant gene....ears of pollution had placed pressure on organisms, many of which live naturally in the soil. Antibiotics pass into the environment from waste from humans and farm animals, which has seen organisms evolve to defend themselves. ... As long as my painkillers are still effective, I'll be okay. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Dec 29, 2009 from Agence France-Presse: Cleaning agents may help superbugs grow Disinfectants commonly used in homes and medical facilities can boost the resistance of some bacteria to life-saving antibiotics, according to a study released on Monday. The findings shed light on how at least one pathogen - Pseudomonas aeruginosa - spreads, and could apply to other hospital superbugs as well, the authors say... In laboratory experiments, researchers showed that the bug can rapidly mutate, building resistance to progressively higher doses of a disinfectant known as BSK, or benzalkonium chloride. ... Not that's ironic! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Dec 29, 2009 from Associated Press: Malaria and other diseases coming back worldwide in new and more deadly forms ...Malaria is just one of the leading killer infectious diseases battling back in a new and more deadly form, the AP found in a six-month look at the soaring rates of drug resistance worldwide. After decades of the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and staph have started to mutate. The result: The drugs are slowly dying. Already, The Associated Press found, resistance to malaria has spread faster and wider than previously documented. Dr. White said virtually every case of malaria he sees in western Cambodia is now resistant to drugs.... People generate drug resistant malaria when they take too little medicine, substandard medicine or -- as is all too often the case around O'treng -- counterfeit medicine with a pinch of the real stuff. Once established, the drug-resistant malaria is spread by mosquitoes. So one person's counterfeit medicine can eventually spawn widespread resistant disease. ... That's a bit self-serving of those mosquitoes, don't you think? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Dec 28, 2009 from Scientific American: Bugs Inside: What Happens When the Microbes That Keep Us Healthy Disappear? Bacteria, viruses and fungi have been primarily cast as the villains in the battle for better human health. But a growing community of researchers is sounding the warning that many of these microscopic guests are really ancient allies. Having evolved along with the human species, most of the miniscule beasties that live in and on us are actually helping to keep us healthy, just as our well-being promotes theirs... With rapid changes in sanitation, medicine and lifestyle in the past century, some of these indigenous species are facing decline, displacement and possibly even extinction.... ... The plot twists here are breathtaking! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Dec 4, 2009 from SciDev.net: African killer is a new Salmonella strain A deadly type of Salmonella that is killing one in four infected people in Africa is a new strain, scientists have discovered. Salmonella enterica Typhimurium is a foodborne bug that causes diarrhoea and is usually non-fatal. The strain found in Africa was thought to kill only people with compromised immune systems. But now a collaboration between African and UK scientists to genetically sequence the strain -- called ST313 -- has shown that it has mutated to become resistant to many commonly used drugs. ... YARB -- Yet Another Resistant Bug. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 23, 2009 from CIDRAP: Clusters of resistant H1N1 cases reported in UK, US Health officials in Wales today announced the identification of a cluster of patients in a Cardiff hospital who are infected with oseltamivir-resistant pandemic H1N1 influenza. Also today, Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., reported that oseltamivir-resistant H1N1 viruses were found in four very sick patients hospitalized there over the past 6 weeks. A Duke press release said all four patients had been in the same hospital unit, but it did not specify how many were there at the same time.... "It took some time before seasonal H1N1 became widely Tamiflu-resistant [a fact that became clear last winter], and I suspect the same pattern will apply with 2009 H1N1 virus," he added. "At the moment there is no cause for alarm." ... "At the moment" hasn't worked out so well, these last few years. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Nov 1, 2009 from Henry Ford Health System, via EurekAlert: A MRSA strain linked to high death rates A strain of MRSA that causes bloodstream infections is five times more lethal than other strains and has shown to have some resistance to the potent antibiotic drug vancomycin used to treat MRSA, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study. The study found that 50 percent of the patients infected with the strain died within 30 days compared to 11 percent of patients infected with other MRSA strains. The average 30-day mortality rate for MRSA bloodstream infections ranges from 10 percent to 30 percent. ... Mercy! Really Scary Animacules! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Sep 30, 2009 from TIME: The Desperate Need for New Antibiotics But now global health officials face an approaching crisis: the number of different antibiotics available to treat such infections when they do occur is dwindling because pharmaceutical companies have neglected to invest in the development of new types of drugs. Bacterial and parasitic diseases are the second-leading cause of death worldwide, according to a report on antibiotic research released Sept. 17 by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), with 175,000 deaths attributed to hospital-acquired infections each year in Europe alone. And due to the emergence of drug-resistant "superbugs," such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), traditional antibiotics such as Penicillin and its derivatives are becoming obsolete. New antibiotics are desperately needed, but the amount of money being spent on the research and development of these drugs is woefully inadequate. ... Maybe it's time to start reasoning with those superbugs! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Sep 14, 2009 from USA Today: MRSA 'superbug' found in ocean, public beaches Public beaches may be one source of the surging prevalence of the superbug known as multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, researchers here said Saturday. A study by researchers at the University of Washington has for the first time identified methicillin-resistant Staph aureus (MRSA) in marine water and beach sand from seven public beaches on the Puget Sound. The researchers identified Staph bacteria on nine of 10 public beaches that they tested. Seven of 13 Staph aureus samples, found on five beaches, were multidrug resistant, says lead investigator Marilyn Roberts. ... I saw one ... eating a hotdog! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Sep 12, 2009 from AP, via NYT: Dangerous Staph Germs Found at West Coast Beaches Dangerous staph bacteria have been found in sand and water for the first time at five public beaches along the coast of Washington, and scientists think the state is not the only one with this problem. The germ is MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus -- a hard-to-treat bug once rarely seen outside of hospitals but that increasingly is spreading in ordinary community settings such as schools, locker rooms and gyms. The germ causes nasty skin infections as well as pneumonia and other life-threatening problems. It spreads mostly through human contact. Little is known about environmental sources that also may harbor the germ.... In the new study, researchers tested 10 beaches in Washington along the West Coast and in Puget Sound from February to September 2008. Staph bacteria were found at nine of them, including five with MRSA. The strains resembled the highly resistant ones usually seen in hospitals, rather than the milder strains acquired in community settings, Roberts said.... "Make sure you get all the sand off," and cover any open cuts or scrapes before playing in the sand, Roberts added. ... We all know how easy getting beach sand off is! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Sep 12, 2009 from Reuters: U.S. campers developed drug-resistant flu: report Two girls given antiviral drugs in an effort to protect children at a summer camp from the new pandemic swine flu developed resistant virus, U.S. health officials reported on Thursday.... Flu viruses are mutation-prone and experts are not surprised that they would evolve resistance, just as bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics. But the CDC would like to preserve the benefits of Tamiflu and Relenza for as long as possible. Tamiflu and Relenza not only fight flu. They can prevent infection if given soon enough. And a doctor at a North Carolina summer camp decided to protect 600 campers and staff there with so-called prophylactic doses of Tamiflu. Two girls developed flu anyway. As they were cabin-mates, it is possible one infected the other, the CDC and North Carolina health investigators said. Checks showed they were both infected with viruses that had mutations giving them resistance to Tamiflu. ... That just shows how adaptable life is! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Sep 10, 2009 from Environmental Health News: Unprecedented levels of antibiotics pollute India's water. Levels of antibiotics measured in streams, lakes and well water near pharmaceutical factories in India are 100,000 to 1,000,000 times higher than levels measured in waters that receive sewage effluent in the US or China. Much of the world's supply of generic antibiotics is produced in the study area.... These levels of contamination are alarming for two reasons. First, they may adversely affect human health following exposure to contaminated water. The health effects of ongoing exposure to high concentrations of mixtures of pharmaceutical mixtures are largely unknown. This is especially true for a developing fetus, baby or child. Second, they generate conditions that may foster development of antibiotic resistant strains of pathogens. ... Ground zero for all kinds of patient zeros! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Aug 13, 2009 from Miller-McCune: Playing Chicken With Antibiotic Resistance ...Citing concerns that injecting eggs with antibiotics "presents a risk to the public health," the FDA issued a rule in July 2008 that severely limited antibiotic use in hatcheries. The aim, the FDA said in a carefully reasoned statement backed by government studies from the U.S., Canada and Europe, was to restrict use of a class of antibiotics due to fears that misuse on farms reduced the antibiotics' effectiveness for humans — a concern long voiced by the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization and public health agencies in numerous countries. Coming from a federal agency with sweeping legal powers and powerful law-enforcement capabilities, the FDA's rule was tough stuff — or so it seemed at first. But that was before the powerful U.S. chicken lobby — sometimes dubbed "Big Chicken" — stepped in. Within weeks of the FDA's antibiotic prohibition, a barn burner of a fight, pitting scientists against farmers and physicians against veterinarians, ignited across the continent. Then, three weeks before the ban was to go into effect, FDA policymakers — mindful of an earlier ban on antibiotic use in poultry that was won only after years of litigation — suddenly abandoned their own ruling. ... As long as we can ALL agree the sky is falling. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Aug 10, 2009 from American Thoracic Society, via EurekAlert: Misuse of common antibiotic is creating resistant TB Use of a common antibiotic may be undercutting its utility as a first-line defense against drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). Fluoroquinolones are the most commonly prescribed class of antibiotics in the U.S. and are used to fight a number of different infections such as sinusitis and pneumonia. They are also an effective first line of defense against TB infections that show drug resistance. New research shows, however, that widespread general use of fluoroquinolones may be creating a strain of fluoroquinolone-resistant TB.... Overall, patients who had used fluoroquinolones within 12 months of diagnosis were almost five times as likely to have a fluoroquinolone-resistant strain of TB than those who had not used fluoroquinolones, and there was a linear association between length of fluoroquinolone use and fluoroquinolone resistance. ... Do we always have to come out with the big guns blazing, no matter the adversary? ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Aug 9, 2009 from Environmental Health News: Antibiotic-resistant bacteria persist in chicken manure Antibiotic-resistant bacteria can persist in chicken manure that is intended for use as a fertilizer on farm fields. Large piles of aging chicken manure to be used as fertilizer on farm crops can house bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, finds a study from Johns Hopkins University. The results raise concern that typical storage conditions may fail to keep the microbes from reaching people through contaminated food or drinking water. Poultry manure is not required to be treated before it is applied to farm fields. Poultry producers commonly use antibiotics to promote growth of the chickens. This can lead to bacteria in the chickens' digestive system becoming resistant to antibiotics. The antibiotic-resistant bacteria are excreted and wind up in the manure – or poultry litter. The poultry industry in the United States produces an estimated 13 to 26 million metric tons of manure each year. ... That's a whole lotta chicken shit! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jul 31, 2009 from San Francisco Chronicle: Bill would restrict antibiotics in food animals A New York congresswoman is trying to rally support for a federal bill that would restrict antibiotic use in food animals just months after a similar measure tanked in California. Despite being voted down in Sacramento, a proposal that bans feeding antibiotics to cattle, hogs and poultry to increase their growth seems to be gaining momentum in the nation's capital, where the Obama administration has condemned the practice.... scientists and doctors fear that the overuse of these drugs makes them less effective in fighting bacteria in humans and animals. Microbes that develop immunity to the drugs will multiply and flourish. ... Big farms like big pharms. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jul 26, 2009 from Infection Control Today: Antimicrobial Effectiveness Of Medical-Grade Honey in Topical Wound Care According to a recent paper published in the European Journal of Clinical Microbiological Infectious Diseases, a certain kind of honey can be an effective agent in topical wound care, particularly where antibiotic resistance is an issue. The irony is that this most exciting new treatment has been around since the dawn of history -- honey was first used as a first aid treatment 4,000 years ago in Egypt. The paper, "The unusual antibacterial activity of medical-grade Leptospermum honey: antibacterial spectrum, resistance and transcriptome analysis," describes the palliative effects of Leptospermum honey, a particular kind of honey indigenous to New Zealand and Australia. Leptospermum honey has been shown to possess unique plant derived components that make it an ideal wound dressing, including novel antimicrobial and immune-modulatory compounds. In addition, the honey has several properties that also aid in wound healing. ... Sweet! This kind of story is likely to start a buzz. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 2, 2009 from Infection Control Today: NICUs Seeing More Antibiotic-Resistant Staph Infections The rate of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in U.S. neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) has more than tripled in recent years, reports a study in the July issue of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.... Of approximately 4,400 staph infections tested for antibiotic resistance, 23 percent were MRSA. From 1995 to 2004, the rate of late-onset MRSA infections increased by 308 percent: from less than one to about three infections for every 10,000 hospital days. The sharpest increase in MRSA infections occurred after 2002. The smallest infants -- those with very low birth weights of 1,000 grams (about 35 ounces) -- had the sharpest increase in MRSA infections. However, the infection rate rose in all birth weight groups. ... Baby needs new antibiotics! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jun 9, 2009 from University of Montreal, via EurekAlert: Antibiotics, antimicrobials and antifungals in waterways Antibiotics, antimicrobials and antifungals are seeping into the waterways of North America, Europe and East Asia, according to an investigation published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP).... [T]he review found that consumption of anti-infectives for human and agriculture use contributes to their release into the environment and even into drinking water. "Anti-infectives are constantly discharged, at trace levels, in natural waters near urban centres and agricultural areas," says senior author Sebastien Sauve, a Universite de Montreal professor of environmental analytical chemistry. "Their potential contribution to the spread of anti-infective resistance in bacteria and other effects on aquatic biota is a cause for concern." ... Here in the US we call it the new health care initiative. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jun 3, 2009 from New Scientist: Health workers may flee in pandemic panic Healthcare workers will desert their posts in droves in a pandemic, unless the safety and psychological issues they face are addressed. So say surveys of doctors, nurses and other staff, such as lab techs, secretaries and porters, from around the world. The worst predictions are for the UK, where as few as 15 per cent of workers would show up in a pandemic.... Studies in Hong Kong and the US predict an 85 and 50 per cent turnout respectively. ... What if they gave a pandemic and nobody came? ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Apr 26, 2009 from The Independent (UK): Just how big a threat will this flu outbreak be? The danger of a pandemic -- which they reckon could kill 750,000 people in Britain alone -- is all too real, for every so often, the disease goes though an evolutionary leap. Normally an existing flu virus undergoes a slight mutation, which enables it to infect some people who have built up immunity from previous bouts of the disease. But some three or four times a century, a completely new one arrives, apparently from nowhere. No one has any immunity against it so -- if it is vicious enough, and once it has learned to spread from person to person -- it is free to commit mass slaughter.... Scientist[s] worried that [H5N1 could become infectious between people] by infecting a pig already harbouring a different, human flu virus, since the animals are susceptible to both: the two could then mix their DNA, creating a deadly new strain that could pass from person to person. But even at the height of concern about H5N1 four years ago, some experts were warning that the new pandemic might emerge from elsewhere. And this could be what has just happened. The latest virus, A/H1N1, that is rapidly spreading through North America is new and contains a mixture of bird, pig and human strains. Early reports suggest that it takes most of its victims among healthy 25 to 45 year olds.... ... C'mon -- we kicked polio's ass. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Apr 19, 2009 from Chapel Hill News: Biosolids concerns bubble to surface Nancy Holt bulldozed trees and blocked the path to the creek behind her house after her grandson and his friend went wading in the water and got staph infections. Myra Dotson developed red bumps on her knees and forearms after gardening. When they became infected, a doctor diagnosed her with MRSA, the antibiotic-resistant "super bug." Both women blame the infections on sewage sludge applied on nearby fields. Now an advisory board's concerns are raising questions the county had hoped to begin answering two years ago. ... This is tantamount to pissing in the wind. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 16, 2009 from Environmental Health News: Sewage plants could be creating 'super' bacteria A wastewater treatment plant's job description is pretty straightforward: Remove contaminants from sewage so it can be returned to the environment without harming people or wildlife. But a new study suggests that the treatment process can have an unintended consequence of promoting the spread of extra-hardy bacteria. Some bugs are resistant to antibiotics, so they dodge the medical bullets that wipe out others. The more drugs that are used, the more robust they become. Since bacteria reproduce quickly -- one organism might turn into a billion overnight -- and they share DNA with others, antibiotic-resistant genes spread like Darwinian wildfire when conditions are right. And at sewage treatment plants, it seems, the conditions are right... ... Sounds like my email inbox. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Mar 29, 2009 from London Guardian: Shampoo in the water supply triggers growth of deadly drug-resistant bugs Fabric softeners, disinfectants, shampoos and other household products are spreading drug-resistant bacteria around Britain, scientists have warned. Detergents used in factories and mills are also increasing the odds that some medicines will no longer be able to combat dangerous diseases. The warning has been made by Birmingham and Warwick university scientists, who say disinfectants and other products washed into sewers and rivers are triggering the growth of drug-resistant microbes. Soil samples from many areas have been found to contain high levels of bacteria with antibiotic-resistant genes, the scientists have discovered -- raising fears that these may have already been picked up by humans. ... Those are acceptable consequences for me smelling clean and fresh! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 17, 2009 from Reuters Health: Flies plus chicken droppings spread "superbugs" Flies, already blamed for spreading disease, may help spread drug-resistant superbugs from chicken droppings, researchers reported on Monday. They matched antibiotic-resistant enterococci and staphylococci bacteria from houseflies and the litter found in intensive poultry-farming barns in the Delmarva Peninsula region of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. The findings, reported in the journal Science of the Total Environment, may help explain some of the spread of drug-resistant bacteria. "Flies are well-known vectors of disease and have been implicated in the spread of various viral and bacterial infections affecting humans, including enteric fever, cholera, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis and shigellosis," said Jay Graham of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who led the research. ... Flies: the new scapegoat. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Mar 1, 2009 from New Scientist: Drug-resistant gonorrhoea on the rise In the latest setback, quinolone resistance seems to have spread to Canada. Kaede Ota and her colleagues at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto found that quinolone-resistant infections in Ontario soared from 4 per cent of infections in 2002 to 28 per cent in 2006 (Canadian Medical Association Journal, DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.080222). The team blames the surge on a mixture of unsafe sex and people not completing prescribed courses of antibiotics. The fear is that strains resistant to all antibiotics will appear. The first cephalosporin-resistant strains appeared in 2008 in Japan. ... What's the sound of one quinolone clapping? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Feb 27, 2009 from KSTP (MN): MDH: Rise in antibiotic resistant bacteria alarming Health officials in Minnesota say they are seeing increasing evidence of antibiotic resistance in disease-causing bacteria in the state, prompting a reminder to health care providers and patients about the importance of using antibiotics carefully and appropriately. A report, released this week, detailed the finding by health officials in Minnesota, North Dakota and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta of an antibiotic-resistant strain of bacterium, Neisseria meningitidis, that causes meningococcal disease.... ... Evolution moves in mysterious ways. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 11, 2009 from New Scientist: New antibiotics would silence bugs, not kill them In future, the most effective antibiotics might be those that don't kill any bacteria. Instead the drugs will simply prevent the bacteria from talking with one another. Drug-resistant bugs are winning the war against standard antibiotics as they evolve resistance to even the most lethal drugs. It happens because a dose of antibiotics strongly selects for resistance by killing the most susceptible bacteria first. If, however, researchers can identify antibiotics that neutralise dangerous bacteria without killing them, the pressure to evolve resistance can be reduced. One way to do that is to target the constant stream of chatter that passes between bacteria as molecular signals.... Individual bacteria monitor the concentration of signalling molecules, and when it reaches a certain level, change their behaviour. That concentration provides a rough indication of when the number of cells in a particular population has reached a certain critical mass - known as a quorum. When a quorum is reached, pathogenic bacteria shift from a benign state and begin attacking the host by secreting toxins. ... Say what???? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 5, 2009 from US News and World Report: Not Just HFCS and Peanut Butter: Here are 10 Other Risky Foods 1. Farmed Salmon. It's high in Polychlorinated Biphenyls, with 11 times more dioxins than wild salmon. 2. Conventionally Grown Bell Peppers. They require more pesticides than any other vegetable - with as many as 64 being found on a single sample of pepper in one study. 3. Non-Organic Strawberries. Some growers of strawberries irrigate their plants with Nutri-Sweet-laced water. The sugar substitute is a probable carcinogen. 4. Chilean Sea Bass. The fish is high in mercury, and if eaten consistently over time, can elevate the body's mercury levels to dangerous amounts. 5. Non-Organic Peaches. Pesticides easily penetrate their soft skins and permeate the fruit. 6. Genetically Modified Corn. We still don't know the long-term effects of genetically modified corn, but it's been tied to an increase in allergies for humans. 7. Bluefin Tuna. Not only is it high in mercury, but overfishing may drive the species to extinction. 8. Industrially Farmed Chicken. Arsenic has been found in conventional chickens, as well as antibiotic-resistant bacteria. 9. Non-Organic Apples. When grown in humid Mid-Atlantic states, the crop uses more pesticides than California, Oregon and Washington states. 10. Cattle Treated with rBGH. Recombinant bovine growth hormone has been traced to breast cancer and hormonal disorders. ... OMG: I've eaten all ten! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jan 31, 2009 from The Herald News (MA): Flowing medicine cabinet PATANCHERU, India -- When researchers analyzed vials of treated wastewater taken from a plant where about 90 Indian drug factories dump their residues, they were shocked. Enough of a single, powerful antibiotic was being spewed into one stream each day to treat every person in a city of 90,000. And it wasn't just ciprofloxacin being detected. The supposedly cleaned water was a floating medicine cabinet -- a soup of 21 different active pharmaceutical ingredients, used in generics for treatment of hypertension, heart disease, chronic liver ailments, depression, gonorrhea, ulcers and other ailments. Half of the drugs measured at the highest levels of pharmaceuticals ever detected in the environment, researchers say. Those Indian factories produce drugs for much of the world, including many Americans. The result: Some of India's poor are unwittingly consuming an array of chemicals that may be harmful, and could lead to the proliferation of drug-resistant bacteria.... "I'll tell you, I've never seen concentrations this high before. And they definitely ... are having some biological impact, at least in the effluent," said Dan Schlenk, an ecotoxicologist from the University of California, Riverside, who was not involved in the India research. ... Boy, am I glad we're not responsible. We only buy the drugs from their factories. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 26, 2009 from SciDev.net: Resistance to key malaria drug emerges The parasite responsible for the deadliest form of malaria is showing the first signs of resistance to artemisinin -- the drug hailed as the biggest hope for eradicating the disease. The cases of resistance in Plasmodium falciparum were detected on the Thai-Cambodian border, in the same area that drug-resistant strains of the malaria parasite have developed in the past, most notably to chloroquine in the 1950s. "We feel that we not only have to beat the drum but shake the cage: guys, this is significant," R. Timothy Ziemer, head of the President's Malaria Initiative, who visited the area to assess the resistance problem, told the International Herald Tribune. ... Can't evolution just take a break every so often? We were about to win! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jan 23, 2009 from SciDev.net: Investigating Pigs for Ebola Veterinary experts are investigating how a form of the Ebola virus found in primates has been transmitted to pigs in the Philippines. Twenty-two international health and veterinary experts travelled to the island of Luzon in the Philippines last week (13 January) to investigate an outbreak of the Ebola Reston virus in pigs that occurred in 2008. It was the first time the virus had been seen outside primates, and its appearance in domestic livestock is unexpected and worrying, according to Pierre Rollin, an Ebola expert from the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. ... Good thing we're already pre-dosing our pigs with antibiotics! Why, I bet they're nearly immune! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jan 8, 2009 from UC Boulder, via ScienceDaily: Avian Flu Becoming More Resistant To Antiviral Drugs A new University of Colorado at Boulder study shows the resistance of the avian flu virus to a major class of antiviral drugs is increasing through positive evolutionary selection, with researchers documenting the trend in more than 30 percent of the samples tested. The avian flu, an Influenza A subtype dubbed H5N1, is evolving a resistance to a group of antiviral drugs known as adamantanes, one of two classes of antiviral drugs used to prevent and treat flu symptoms, said CU-Boulder doctoral student Andrew Hill, lead study author. The rise of resistance to adamantanes -- which include the nonprescription drugs amantadine and rimantadane -- appears to be linked to Chinese farmers adding the drugs to chicken feed as a flu preventative, according to a 2008 paper by researchers from China Agricultural University, said Hill. ... We've seen the results of "preventative antibiotics" -- remember when good ol' penicillin worked? Neither do we. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jan 6, 2009 from Environmental Health News: Crops absorb livestock antibiotics, new science shows For half a century, meat producers have fed antibiotics to farm animals to increase their growth and stave off infections. Now scientists have discovered that those drugs are sprouting up in unexpected places. Vegetables such as corn, potatoes and lettuce absorb antibiotics when grown in soil fertilized with livestock manure, according to tests conducted at the University of Minnesota. Today, close to 70 percent of all antibiotics and related drugs used in the United States are routinely fed to cattle, pigs and poultry, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. Although this practice sustains a growing demand for meat, it also generates public health fears associated with the expanding presence of antibiotics in the food chain. ... Don't tell me: there are probably antibiotics in the livestock's farts as well. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Nov 25, 2008 from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: Transporting Broiler Chickens Could Spread Antibiotic-resistant Organisms Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have found evidence of a novel pathway for potential human exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacteria from intensively raised poultry-- driving behind the trucks transporting broiler chickens from farm to slaughterhouse. A study by the Hopkins researchers found increased levels of pathogenic bacteria, both susceptible and drug-resistant, on surfaces and in the air inside cars traveling behind trucks that carry broiler chickens. ... Eat my .... antibiotic-resistant dust. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Nov 22, 2008 from Los Angeles Times: Are pill-popping turkeys a danger? Turkeys, like any other animal, get sick. And while few would dispute that they should be treated when that happens, many scientists, medical professionals and animal experts are concerned that too much medicine is being given to too many turkeys -- and to too many food animals in general... The potential for danger from antibiotic use in farm animals comes in two forms, experts say: The antibiotics could remain in meat when people eat it. They could also contribute to the development of resistant bacteria. ... Who's the turkey now? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Nov 19, 2008 from London Daily Mail: New superbug version of E.coli found on British dairy farm A new superbug version of E.coli which could trigger life-threatening infections has been found on a dairy farm. The mutant strain of E.coli 026 is believed to have emerged as a result of the heavy use of antibiotics on farm animals. It is the first time it has been discovered in this country and only the third time it has been found anywhere in the world. The bug is similar to the infamous E.coli 0157 which has been implicated in fatal food poisoning outbreaks. ... Just so the mad cows don't come home to roost! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Nov 12, 2008 from MSNBC: Nasty intestinal bug spikes in U.S. hospitals A virulent, drug-resistant gut infection that causes potentially deadly diarrhea, especially among the old and sick, is up to 20 times more common than previously thought, a large survey of U.S. hospitals and health care centers finds. Thirteen in every 1,000 patients were infected or colonized with Clostridium difficile, known as C. diff, according to surveys by nearly 650 U.S. acute care and other centers, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, or APIC, reported Tuesday. That's between 6.5 and 20 times higher than previous estimates of the nasty bacterial infection tied to overuse of antibiotics and improperly cleaned hospital rooms... ... What's the diff? Oh, it's tres difficile... ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 10, 2008 from Science Daily (US): XDR-TB: Deadlier And More Mysterious Than Ever New research has found that XDR-TB is increasingly common and more deadly than previously known. Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is a growing public health threat that is only just beginning to be understood by medical and public health officials.... Over the three to seven years that the study's patient population was monitored, approximately 50 percent of those identified with XDR-TB died, which was a mortality rate similar to untreated TB patients in South India, and one that becomes even worse with HIV co-infection. ... eXtremely Dire Results. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Nov 1, 2008 from Eugene KVAL: Drug-resistant bacteria found in pork A ground-breaking investigation by the KOMO Problem Solvers has found toxic, life-threatening Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) bacteria in some pork you might buy at grocery stores. This drug-resistant bacteria is already responsible for more deaths in this country than AIDS. What makes MRSA so potentially dangerous is the bacteria can make you sick just by touching it. In spite of the risk, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has resisted testing store-bought pork for the aggressive bacteria. ... Apparently, pork is now kosher for Mr. and Mrs. MRSA. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 16, 2008 from Loyola University, via EurekAlert: Is re-emerging superbug the next MRSA? "Disease caused by Clostridium difficile can range from nuisance diarrhea to life-threatening colitis that could lead to the surgical removal of the colon, and even death,"... When C-diff is not actively dividing, it forms very tough spores that can exist on surfaces for months and years, making it very difficult to kill, Johnson said. "Antibiotics are very effective against the growing form of the bacteria but it doesn't do anything to the spores," Johnson said. "If there are spores they can sit around like stealth bombs. Once the antibiotic is gone, these spores can germinate again and spread their toxins." ... Is it time for a war on terrorist spore stealth bombs? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Sep 8, 2008 from Chattanooga Times Free Press: Testing for drugs in Tennessee River system under way Caffeine was found in more than 93 percent of about 160 test samples of river water... [as well as] at least 12 other common drugs, including several antibiotics, antidepressants and substances designed to lower human cholesterol levels. While the amount of drugs in the water is tiny by human standards, they one day may have a serious impact on the environment -- and on humans, as well, he said.... "If you're taking all these drugs at once, in really low concentrations, for your entire life, does that sound like a good thing? I don't think so," he said. ... Maybe this is our new universal health care plan. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jul 12, 2008 from Daily Mail: Superbugs threaten to put Britain back to pre-antibiotic age "Superbugs are threatening to return Britain to a 'pre-antibiotic' era in which common infections killed in huge numbers, a major new study warns. There is an urgent need for new, effective medicines to replace drugs that have become useless, says the report by the Royal Society, the UK's science academy. The battle against drug-resistant bacteria has concentrated too much on tackling dirty hospitals and curbing the over-use of existing antibiotics." ... This is a job for ... superdrugs! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jun 15, 2008 from Edinburgh Scotsman: Superbug in hospital outbreak 'has same death rate as smallpox' "EXPERTS fear the strain of Clostridium difficile that has killed eight people at the Vale of Leven Hospital, and been involved in the deaths of eight more, is as deadly as smallpox. The strength of the 027 strain is under investigation, but the rate of fatalities in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde hospital, in West Dunbartonshire, has horrified bacteriologists." ... Is there anything more terrifying than a horrified bacteriologist? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, May 20, 2008 from Reuters UK: Flu bugs growing resistance to drugs: studies "Seasonal flu viruses are developing the ability to evade influenza drugs globally, but how and why this is happening is not clear, experts told a conference on Monday. Europe is the worst-affected by strains of influenza that resist the effects of antiviral drugs, but the resistance is growing globally, they told a meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America." ... Pretty soon, they may be so smart, they'll stop being seasonal and start being all year long! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 12, 2008 from Times of India: Antibiotics rule pharma retail market New Delhi: The first quarter (January-March) of this year has witnessed a change in the domestic pharma retail market with antibiotics and anti-bacterial drugs dominating the show in top 10 brands.... Interestingly, the growth of the industry is mainly driven by the chronic segment (like cardio-vasculars, diabetics, central nervous system), which have grown by 17-18 percent last year. Against this backdrop, offtake of acute segments (anti-infectives, gastro-intestinals, nutritionals) has been slow and grown by 10-15 percent only, industry experts said. ... Finally, Viagra out of the spotlight. Wait, these seem to be for chronic problems, rather than for the new, antibiotic-resistant infections... "only" a 10-15 percent increase. Where's the profit in that? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, May 9, 2008 from Edinburgh Scotsman: Ventilator superbug resistant to antibiotics "HOSPITALS face a dangerous new superbug threat in the form of a drug-resistant microbe that clings to catheters and ventilation tubes. Doctors studying the genetic code of the bug, commonly known as Steno, are worried about its ability to shrug off antibiotics. Around 1,000 cases of blood poisoning caused by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia are reported in the UK each year. Of these, almost a third are fatal." ... Maybe the healthiest idea is to stay out of hospitals. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, May 2, 2008 from LA Times: Antibiotics in our livestock Not just a cure for infection anymore, antibiotics are routinely given to livestock to prevent disease in crowded pens and stockyards and to promote growth. The report says farms can buy these drugs without a prescription or veterinary permission, so it's no surprise that half of all the antibiotics worldwide are used in food production. The ubiquitous use of animal antibiotics saves consumers $5 to $10 a year on their meat and poultry bill, the National Academy of Sciences estimated in 1999. Even that relative pittance is a pseudo-saving, though, because the United States spends more than $4 billion a year to combat [antibiotic-]resistant infections, which kill 90,000 people a year in this country. Experience elsewhere shows that meat producers can use far less medication. In 1998, Denmark banned antibiotic use in livestock except to treat illness. Four years later, a World Health Organization study found that the ban was already helping to reduce the potential for resistant bacteria, at minimal cost to meat producers and without significantly affecting the health of the livestock. Two years ago, the European Union banned the use of all growth-enhancing antibiotics. ... Big Farma may have a case of hoof in mouth disease. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Apr 20, 2008 from Irish Independent: We're the clear losers in the latest round of germ warfare Future generations will laugh at the sheer arrogance and hubris that the medical profession exhibited with respect to infection in the 20th century.... Our apparent victory over the bugs was illusory, short-lived and ultimately pyrrhic... The inappropriate treatment of common benign viral illnesses (e.g. colds) with antibiotics is a major cause of the emergence of MRSA and other resistant bacteria. Doctors who allow themselves to be browbeaten into the inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics are hastening the day when they will have to tell their infected patients "there is nothing I can do for you". ... Won't a splash of Dial solve the problem? Phisoderm? Purell? You mean that might be making the problem worse? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 27, 2008 from New York Times (US): Drug-Resistant TB Rates Soar in Former Soviet Regions "Drug-resistant tuberculosis cases in parts of the former Soviet Union have reached the highest rates ever recorded globally, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. The rates could soar even higher, spreading the potentially fatal disease elsewhere, a top W.H.O. official said, releasing findings from the largest global survey of the problem." ... Please, turn your head when you cough. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Feb 24, 2008 from Earth Institute (Columbia): Growing Threat Seen In Human-Wildlife Conflict, Drug Resistance "An international research team has provided the first scientific evidence that deadly emerging diseases have risen steeply across the world, and has mapped the outbreaks’ main sources. They say new diseases originating from wild animals in poor nations are the greatest threat to humans. Expansion of humans into shrinking pockets of biodiversity and resulting contacts with wildlife are the reason, they say. Meanwhile, richer nations are nursing other outbreaks, including multidrug-resistant pathogen strains, through overuse of antibiotics, centralized food processing and other technologies." ... If only that wildlife would just leave us alone! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Feb 22, 2008 from University of Georgia: Emerging Infectious Diseases On The Rise: Tropical Countries Predicted As Next Hot Spot "It's not just your imagination. Providing the first-ever definitive proof, a team of scientists has shown that emerging infectious diseases such as HIV, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), West Nile virus and Ebola are indeed on the rise. By analyzing 335 incidents of previous disease emergence beginning in 1940, the study has determined that zoonoses -- diseases that originate in animals -- are the current and most important threat in causing new diseases to emerge. And most of these, including SARS and the Ebola virus, originated in wildlife. Antibiotic drug resistance has been cited as another culprit, leading to diseases such as extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB)." ... So that's why we're trying to destroy other species -- before they destroy us! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 21, 2008 from San Francisco Chronicle: Bacteria race ahead of drugs "...Dr. Jeff Brooks has been director of the UCSF lab for 29 years, and has watched with a mixture of fascination and dread how bacteria once tamed by antibiotics evolve rapidly into forms that practically no drug can treat. "These organisms are very small," he said, "but they are still smarter than we are." Among the most alarming of these is MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a bug that used to be confined to vulnerable hospital patients, but now is infecting otherwise healthy people in schools, gymnasiums and the home. Last week, doctors at San Francisco General Hospital reported that a variant of that strain, resistant to six important antibiotics normally used to treat staph, may be transmitted by sexual contact and is spreading among gay men in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles. "We are on the verge of losing control of the situation, particularly in the hospitals," said Dr. Chip Chambers, chief of infectious disease at San Francisco General Hospital. ... If a hospital staff can't control staph then what other homonyms of horror await us. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jan 16, 2008 from Emerging Infectious Diseases: High Degree Of Antibiotic Resistance Found In Wild Arctic Birds "Swedish researchers report that birds captured in the hyperboreal tundra, in connection with the tundra expedition "Beringia 2005," were carriers of antibiotics-resistant bacteria. These findings indicate that resistance to antibiotics has spread into nature, which is an alarming prospect for future health care. "We were extremely surprised," says Bjorn Olsen, professor of infectious diseases at Uppsala University and at the Laboratory for Zoonosis Research at the University of Kalmar. "We took samples from birds living far out on the tundra and had no contact with people. This further confirms that resistance to antibiotics has become a global phenomenon and that virtually no region of the earth, with the possible exception of the Antarctic, is unaffected." ... PostApocHaiku: this proves our days are few when it comes to chillin' with Penicillin. ApocaDoc permalink Copyright 2009 The Apocadocs.com