thats what you get for dumping cheep anti-biotics into billions of caged chickens

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» Drug-Resistant Staph Germ's Toll Is Higher Than Thought

• Health: Drug-Resistant Staph Germ

Drug-Resistant Staph Germ's Toll Is Higher Than Thought

 

By Rob Stein

Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, October 17, 2007; Page A01

 

A dangerous germ that has been spreading around the country causes more

life-threatening infections than public health authorities had thought and is

killing more people in the United States each year than the AIDS virus, federal

health officials reported yesterday.

 

The microbe, a strain of a once innocuous staph bacterium that has become

invulnerable to first-line antibiotics, is responsible for more than 94,000

serious infections and nearly 19,000 deaths each year, the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention calculated.

 

 

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Although mounting evidence shows that the infection is becoming more common, the

estimate published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association is

the first national assessment of the toll from the insidious pathogen, officials

said.

 

" This is a significant public health problem. We should be very worried, " said

Scott K. Fridkin, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC.

 

Other researchers noted that the estimate includes only the most serious

infections caused by the germ, known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus

aureus (MRSA).

 

" It's really just the tip of the iceberg, " said Elizabeth A. Bancroft, a medical

epidemiologist at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health who wrote

an editorial in JAMA accompanying the new studies. " It is astounding. "

 

MRSA is a strain of the ubiquitous bacterium that usually causes staph

infections that are easily treated with common, or first-line, antibiotics in

the penicillin family, such as methicillin and amoxicillin. Resistant strains of

the organism, however, have been increasingly turning up in hospitals and in

small outbreaks outside of heath-care settings, such as among athletes, prison

inmates and children.

 

On Monday, Ashton Bonds, 17, of Lynch Station, Va., succumbed to MRSA, prompting

officials to shut down 21 Bedford County schools today for cleaning to prevent

further infections. The infection had spread to Bonds's kidneys, liver, lungs

and the muscle around his heart.

 

The MRSA estimate is being published with a report that a strain of another

bacterium, which causes ear infections in children, has become impervious to

every approved antibiotic for youngsters.

 

" Taken together, what these two papers show is that we're increasingly facing

antibiotic-resistant forms of these very common organisms, " Bancroft said.

 

The reports underscore the need to develop new antibiotics and curb the

unnecessary use of those already available, experts said. They should also alert

doctors to be on the lookout for antibiotic-resistant infections so patients can

be treated with the few remaining effective drugs before they develop serious

complications, experts said.

 

MRSA, which is spread by casual contact, rapidly turns minor abscesses and other

skin infections into serious health problems, including painful, disfiguring

" necrotizing " abscesses that eat away tissue. The infections can often still be

treated by lancing and draining sores and quickly administering other

antibiotics, such as bactrim. But in some cases the microbe gets into the lungs,

causing unusually serious pneumonia, or spreads into bone, vital organs and the

bloodstream, triggering life-threatening complications. Those patients must be

hospitalized and given intensive care, including intravenous antibiotics such as

vancomycin.

 

In the new study, Fridkin and his colleagues analyzed data collected in

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, New York,

Oregon and Tennessee, identifying 5,287 cases of invasive MRSA infection and 988

deaths in 2005. The researchers calculated that MRSA was striking 31.8 out of

every 100,000 Americans, which translates to 94,360 cases and 18,650 deaths

nationwide. In comparison, complications from the AIDS virus killed about 12,500

Americans in 2005.

 

" This indicates these life-threatening MRSA infections are much more common than

we had thought, " Fridkin said.

 

In fact, the estimate makes MRSA much more common than flesh-eating strep

infections, bacterial pneumonia and meningitis combined, Bancroft noted.

 

" These are some of the most dreaded invasive bacterial diseases out there, " she

said. " This is clearly a very big deal. "

 

The infection is most common among African Americans and the elderly, but also

commonly strikes very young children.

 

" We see these cases all the time, " said Robert S. Daum, a pediatric

infectious-disease specialist at the University of Chicago. " In the last five

weeks, I've taken care of five children who were sick enough to be hospitalized

and require intensive care. "

 

Studies have shown that hospitals could do more to improve standard hygiene to

reduce the spread of the infection. Individuals can reduce their risk through

common-sense measures, such as frequent hand-washing.

 

In the second paper, Michael E. Pichichero and Janet R. Casey of the University

of Rochester in New York documented the emergence of an antibiotic-resistant

strain of another bacterium known as Streptococcus pneumoniae, which causes

common ear infections. Although all 11 children identified in the Rochester area

with the microbe so far were successfully treated, five required an antibiotic

approved only for adults, and one child was left with permanent hearing loss.

 

The researchers attributed the emergence of the strain to a combination of the

overuse of antibiotics and the introduction of a vaccine that protects against

the infection.

 

" The use of the vaccine created an ecological vacuum, and that combined with

excessive use of antibiotics to create this new superbug, " Pichichero said.

 

 

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

Confucius

[Guest guest]

We have great problems with that over here.

 

jO

 

-

" fraggle " <EBbrewpunx

" vegan chat " ; " TFHB "

<TFHB >; " hef " <jdh_666

Tuesday, October 23, 2007 6:28 PM

thats what you get for dumping cheep anti-biotics into

billions of caged chickens

 

 

washingtonpost.com > Health » This Story:Read +|Talk +| Comments

» Drug-Resistant Staph Germ's Toll Is Higher Than Thought

• Health: Drug-Resistant Staph Germ

Drug-Resistant Staph Germ's Toll Is Higher Than Thought

 

By Rob Stein

Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, October 17, 2007; Page A01

 

A dangerous germ that has been spreading around the country causes more

life-threatening infections than public health authorities had thought and

is killing more people in the United States each year than the AIDS virus,

federal health officials reported yesterday.

 

The microbe, a strain of a once innocuous staph bacterium that has become

invulnerable to first-line antibiotics, is responsible for more than 94,000

serious infections and nearly 19,000 deaths each year, the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention calculated.

 

 

washingtonpost.com readers have posted 94 comments about this item.

View All Comments »

 

Comments are closed for this article.

Discussion PolicyDiscussion Policy CLOSEComments that include profanity or

personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed

from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain

" signatures " by someone other than the actual author will be removed.

Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting

standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing

this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and

discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

 

Who's Blogging?

» Links to this article

Although mounting evidence shows that the infection is becoming more common,

the estimate published today in the Journal of the American Medical

Association is the first national assessment of the toll from the insidious

pathogen, officials said.

 

" This is a significant public health problem. We should be very worried, "

said Scott K. Fridkin, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC.

 

Other researchers noted that the estimate includes only the most serious

infections caused by the germ, known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus

aureus (MRSA).

 

" It's really just the tip of the iceberg, " said Elizabeth A. Bancroft, a

medical epidemiologist at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health

who wrote an editorial in JAMA accompanying the new studies. " It is

astounding. "

 

MRSA is a strain of the ubiquitous bacterium that usually causes staph

infections that are easily treated with common, or first-line, antibiotics

in the penicillin family, such as methicillin and amoxicillin. Resistant

strains of the organism, however, have been increasingly turning up in

hospitals and in small outbreaks outside of heath-care settings, such as

among athletes, prison inmates and children.

 

On Monday, Ashton Bonds, 17, of Lynch Station, Va., succumbed to MRSA,

prompting officials to shut down 21 Bedford County schools today for

cleaning to prevent further infections. The infection had spread to Bonds's

kidneys, liver, lungs and the muscle around his heart.

 

The MRSA estimate is being published with a report that a strain of another

bacterium, which causes ear infections in children, has become impervious to

every approved antibiotic for youngsters.

 

" Taken together, what these two papers show is that we're increasingly

facing antibiotic-resistant forms of these very common organisms, " Bancroft

said.

 

The reports underscore the need to develop new antibiotics and curb the

unnecessary use of those already available, experts said. They should also

alert doctors to be on the lookout for antibiotic-resistant infections so

patients can be treated with the few remaining effective drugs before they

develop serious complications, experts said.

 

MRSA, which is spread by casual contact, rapidly turns minor abscesses and

other skin infections into serious health problems, including painful,

disfiguring " necrotizing " abscesses that eat away tissue. The infections can

often still be treated by lancing and draining sores and quickly

administering other antibiotics, such as bactrim. But in some cases the

microbe gets into the lungs, causing unusually serious pneumonia, or spreads

into bone, vital organs and the bloodstream, triggering life-threatening

complications. Those patients must be hospitalized and given intensive care,

including intravenous antibiotics such as vancomycin.

 

In the new study, Fridkin and his colleagues analyzed data collected in

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, New York,

Oregon and Tennessee, identifying 5,287 cases of invasive MRSA infection and

988 deaths in 2005. The researchers calculated that MRSA was striking 31.8

out of every 100,000 Americans, which translates to 94,360 cases and 18,650

deaths nationwide. In comparison, complications from the AIDS virus killed

about 12,500 Americans in 2005.

 

" This indicates these life-threatening MRSA infections are much more common

than we had thought, " Fridkin said.

 

In fact, the estimate makes MRSA much more common than flesh-eating strep

infections, bacterial pneumonia and meningitis combined, Bancroft noted.

 

" These are some of the most dreaded invasive bacterial diseases out there, "

she said. " This is clearly a very big deal. "

 

The infection is most common among African Americans and the elderly, but

also commonly strikes very young children.

 

" We see these cases all the time, " said Robert S. Daum, a pediatric

infectious-disease specialist at the University of Chicago. " In the last

five weeks, I've taken care of five children who were sick enough to be

hospitalized and require intensive care. "

 

Studies have shown that hospitals could do more to improve standard hygiene

to reduce the spread of the infection. Individuals can reduce their risk

through common-sense measures, such as frequent hand-washing.

 

In the second paper, Michael E. Pichichero and Janet R. Casey of the

University of Rochester in New York documented the emergence of an

antibiotic-resistant strain of another bacterium known as Streptococcus

pneumoniae, which causes common ear infections. Although all 11 children

identified in the Rochester area with the microbe so far were successfully

treated, five required an antibiotic approved only for adults, and one child

was left with permanent hearing loss.

 

The researchers attributed the emergence of the strain to a combination of

the overuse of antibiotics and the introduction of a vaccine that protects

against the infection.

 

" The use of the vaccine created an ecological vacuum, and that combined with

excessive use of antibiotics to create this new superbug, " Pichichero said.

 

 

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

Confucius

 

 

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