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CDC
In the U.S. today, the most common type of highly drug-resistant germs known as CREs are the Klebsiella pneumonia bacteria like those shown here. Nearly untreatable, they're being detected in a growing number of health care settings.
A sharp jump in the number of rare but potentially deadly types of a superbug resistant to nearly all last-resort antibiotics has prompted government health officials to renew warnings for U.S. hospitals, nursing homes and other health care settings.
The move comes just as researchers in Israel are reporting that people who carry dangerous CRE -- Carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae -- can take more than a year before they test negative for the bacteria, making it more difficult to control and raising the risk of wider spread.
Reports of unusual forms of CRE have nearly doubled in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this month. Of 37 cases of rare forms of CRE, including the alarming NDM -- New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase -- 15 have been reported since last July.
“This increase highlights the need for U.S. health care providers to act aggressively to prevent the emergence and spread of these unusual CRE organisms,” the CDC said in a health advisory.
CREs are part of a family of drug-resistant germs that have shown up in growing numbers of U.S. health care settings. They’re named for their ability to elude carbapenem antibiotics, the big guns in the medical arsenal. They usually strike people who are already ill and require devices such as ventilators or catheters or who have been taking antibiotics for a long time. But they can infect any patient.
Twenty-nine of the unusual CRE cases have been NDM, up from the first case detected in the U.S. in 2010, said the CDC's Dr. Alex Kallen, a medical epidemiologist and outbreak response coordinator in the agency’s Healthcare Quality Promotion division. It's especially worrying because it confers resistance to multiple drugs and is easily transmitted to other types of bacteria.
The others were even rarer types of CRE, including VIMs, IMPs and OXA-48s, all of which produce enzymes that render most antibiotics virtually useless.
The agency called for stricter isolation and hygiene precautions, increased screening of patients potentially colonized with CRE and better communication within and between hospitals and other health care settings where the bugs can become intractable -- and deadly. CRE infections have a mortality rate of up to 40 percent, much higher than other health care infections, such as those caused by MRSA or C. difficile.
“Our main objective is to slow or stop the spread in places where we can identify them,” said Kallen. “Right now, the therapeutic options are very limited.”
Health officials have been worried about them for more than a decade, particularly the KPCs, or carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumonia, which have now been reported in 42 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, the CDC reports.
Nine states have reported NDMs and at least two have reported other rare forms that also block antibiotic effectiveness, including those known as VIMs, or Verona integron-encoded metallo-beta-lactamase, and IMPs. So far, they’ve been associated mostly with people who’ve been hospitalized in countries outside the U.S.
The bugs were in the news last summer after reports of a CRE strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae roared through the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center near Washington, D.C., killing seven people, including a 16-year-old boy.
In Colorado last summer, NDM-producing CRE was detected in eight patients, the largest outbreak in the U.S. to date, according to a CDC report this month. It was found largely because the University of Colorado Hospital already has stringent surveillance protocols in place, said Dr. Michelle Barron, director of infection control and prevention. Since then, the hospital has probably tested 500 or 600 patients with unusual resistance patterns, she told NBC News.
None of the eight patients in the original outbreak died. The evidence showed that patients who were colonized with the germs, but not actually sick, contributed to the spread.
That’s a point underscored by the study by Israeli doctors published Wednesday in the American Journal of Infection Control. They studied medical records of adult patients hospitalized between January 2009 and December 2010 at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, a 700-bed, university-affiliated hospital in Jerusalem.
In 97 patients with positive CRE cultures, it took a mean time of 387 days to log a negative test -- and nearly 40 percent remained positive after a year, according to Dr. Amon Yinnon, one of the study authors.
“The major concern is that an undiagnosed carrier may be admitted to hospital for totally unrelated reasons, and subsequently and unwittingly pass his CRE to other patients,” Yinnon said in an email to NBC News.
Patients who were hospitalized repeatedly were at higher risk of remaining colonized with CRE, the study found.
CDC officials hope to increase awareness of the growing problem among the general public as well as the health care providers before it gets out of control.
“I can’t predict the future, of course, but there is a concern that we can see more of these as they spread,” Kallen said. “This can become a community bug.”
Related stories:
- Superbug kills 7th patient at hospital in Maryland
- Untreatable gonorrhea threat rises in the U.S., Canada
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Great, just great.
Are germs not just another living thing? Is every flu germ a new strain every year, not that I know of, so it must have a cycle just like everything else. Maybe nature needs to eliminate humans so a new species (better/worse - does it matter?) can evolve.
There are new species evolving out of arsenic http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19805-arsenicbased-bacteria-point-to-new-life-forms.html and ones being created in laboratories - if we do parish, our finger-prints will undoubtedly still be here.
There needs to be a new News category - the Fear Section...add this one to the list.
I fear humans more than their fate - what grows best after total planet consumption...robots?
How about that flu shot? Did these people have one? When people come back from overseas, they should be decontaminated. They bring back all kind of stuff. And as I mentioned before, if you are sick, STAY HOME!!! Don't go to work to make others sick! But, I believe that all this crap is caused by humans, the real smart ones who work in labs to come up with some kind of thing. They put it in our food and water, so no one is safe. If you are lucky, your body is strong enough to fight it.
they have been worried about this for years; super bugs which have adapted to being resistant to all known drugs; who knows maybe the bugs will take over after mankind is gone.
That is the problem in a nutshell.. Our fancy new health care industry has facilitated many of these little goobers.. Start with the over prescribing of penciling and its evolving variants in the 1950s to present.. This has made resistant strains that are now almost impossible to kill.. I can remember the doctor giving me that stuff every time we went to see him as a child.. The increased population and travel have their hand in it as well.. Mass production of food and urban squaller the list goes on and on.. lots of people died from illnesses in the past and now it is coming full circle.. Guess it is time to pay the piper..
To sum things up: "NBC reports the US CDC finds NDM's including KPC's, IMP's, and CRE's resistant for up to a year that can render you DOA."
L.I.B.!
Sir: LOL!
Elayne wrote:
It's the real smart ones who work in labs that are our best hope for staying on top of this kind of thing. The problem is that bacteria and viruses have much shorter life cycles than we do, and therefore are much quicker to evolve when challenged with environmental threats to their existence. In the case of bacteria, the environmental threat to their existance is antibiotics. Overuse and improper use of antibiotics causes selection pressure on bacteria to evolve antibiotic resistance mechanisms. We contribute to this by going to the doctor and demanding antiobiotics for every little sneeze and sniffle when in fact in many cases these are caused by viruses completely unaffected by antibiotics. Frequently people being appropriately treated with antibiotics fail to complete the prescribed course of treatment when they feel better, having killed off the most sensitive bacteria in their body but leaving the less sensitive ones alive and able to pass along their decreased antibiotic sensitivity to future genereations. And don't even get me started on the routine use of antibiotics in animal feed to increase growth rates and profits in the food industry. All these factors contribute to the evolution of bacterial strains resistant to all known antibiotics. I assure you that "smart people who work in laboratories" are not "putting this crap in our food and water"
I don”t think I could add a single
thing to your post....other than what everyone past the age of 4
already knows....that everything dies, and nothing lives
forever...but since it took all of 20 seconds to read, and you spewed
no paranoid, delusional, politically hateful, rantings....I might be
the only one that read it.
We did create these superbugs,not in
the labs, but in our bodies, and the bodies of farm animals.
As the song says, “ Rust never
sleeps.”
perhaps the meaning of the word "rare" needs to be revised as well
Patient: "Dr. I keep singing, what's up pussycat. Woa woa woa oh. What's up pussycat." "What can it mean?"
Dr. : "It's obvious you have Tom Jones Syndrome."
Patient: "Is it a rare disease?"
Dr. : "It's not unusual."
This story is about bacteria. The flu is a virus. The flu shot doesn't stop bacterial infections.
Trip toe fan, your post made me sleepy.
Treat nothing unless its life threatening
Sirlafalot: Sorry for trying to educate you.
elayne, sweetie, the flu is caused by viruses. The article is discussing bacteria. Two entirely different species. The flu shot is not going to stop bacteria.
You need to remove the tin foil hat. It's cutting off circulation to your brain. No researchers working in labs are creating super bugs to put into your water supply. It must be rough getting through life with such extreme paranoia.
Wash hands, don't touch face.
Wash hands, don't touch face.
Wash hands, don't touch face.
#1.7 Someotherguy1373018: Good and accurate post.
Of course the free movement of international travelers is often the subject of transporting these and other bugs around the world with alarming ease. The CDC and WHO have known for decades, for instance, that China has been ground zero for most flu strain emergents. Our government as well as other large well funded governments should work to expand any research facilities to help produce new medicines to counter these growing threats.
1. Patient gets bacterial infection. Bacteria replicates into the billions.
2. Doctor prescribes antibiotic. Antibiotic kills billions of bacterial cells.
3. The bacterial cells not killed by the antibiotics (because they were the resist ones - which, it's reasonable to think that one in a billion would be resistant) begin to replicate like mad because all of the other bacteria in the localized area has been killed.
4. Overtime (say 70 years) strains of bacteria are completely resistant to most types of antibiotics because all that remains is what survived attack after attack from antibiotics. Also, the overall population has weak immune systems from poor diet, exhaustive work, stress, over medication...
The result: Bacterial infections become increasingly life threatening to the general population and the numbers of people that survive them begins to decrease curbing (though only slightly) the already exponential growth in the human population.
JP,
yes, each year the flu strain changes slightly. Even slight changes to a dna structure mean that the previous years vaccines are either not as effective or non-effective on the current year. Bacteria are like other lifeforms however they evolve at thousands of times the pace that other life forms do. This is the key point.
Note to Creationists: This is proof of evolution.
This is a proof that bacteria are the absolute winners when it comes to the game of SURVIVAL.
My vote would go to the viruses, which cannot be killed. They can even infect bacteria.
Mother Nature is going to control the human population one way or the other.
We either curtail our numbers or nature will do it for us in very brutal ways.
.
This is proof of mutation, The bacteria did not evolve into anything , It is still a bacteria. When it grows arms and legs and a spine and has a brain and thought process come back and we can talk.
Still looking for that missing link!
@LostInThePineBarrens
A beneficial mutation (antibiotic resistance) arose and individuals with that mutation predominately survived to pass that trait on to their offspring. The frequency of the resistance trait is now much greater than in previous generations.
That's a textbook example of natural selection, chief.
What needs to be done is better sanitation in hospitals, managed care facilities, and clinics. The floors, walls, doors and counters (not to mention any surface on exam tables and the rails on hospital beds) of these places are breeding grounds for bacteria and viruses, and simply removing the thin paper on exam tables or mopping the floor after each patient isn't enough. The whole room needs to be sterilized. Using hand sanitizer is the least healthcare professionals do, as they carry germs on their clothes, their shoes, pens and clipboards, not to mention the stethoscopes and BP machines, and spread germs around that way. Those who routinely see patients should have to change their lab coats in between patients, wear disposable covering on their shoes, wipe down their equipment, including pens. Exam rooms should be sprayed liberally with a germicide after each patient use. No exceptions. And each room should be mopped with a fresh bucket of germicide solution and mop head. It'll be expensive and time consuming but we are talking about preventing the spread of disease in the very places people go to get well.
LostInThePineBarrens - Do you have any @!$%#ing idea what you are talking about ? This is high science. Take your laymen interpretations and shove them.
WTF !!!!
LOL @ Gungadin...High science...you goober , Pretending you are smarter than a toadstool.
McGee...the bacteria is still a bacteria, While an infected host might develop antibodies the fact remains that the bacteria is still a bacteria and the host is still a host. They did not evolve into a higher form.
hate to burst your widdle bubble - but you really don't KNOW. A subtle change in the species might go relatively unnoticed for literally MILLIONS of reproductive cycles. That doesn't mean that it isn't happening. In the higher life forms evolution happens at a geological pace.
lost,
not all evolution results in higher life. Most of the time evolution is merely adaptation to new stimuli in an entity's environment. Super bugs are an example of evolution. Antibiotics kill the normal strains. Eventually the strains become strengthened against it from humans not consuming all of their prescribed meds after they start to feel better (for example nearly all strep throat is untreated because most people do not finish of the bottle). Over time the virus/bacteria develop an either nearly complete or total resistance to antibiotics.
It does not happen spontaneously without stimuli, that is what mutation is. Evolution is change brought about, slowly (slowly is freaking fast in a viruses case), by stimuli.
Hi trip toe, Your name is a reminder of something that makes people sleepy. Glad you were able to miss it in front of such a large audience. Oh! Seems they missed it also.
Sirlafalot: Tryptophan doesn't make people sleepy. That's an old wive's tale.
Don't worry, Obama will kill them with the 35,000 drones he ordered to fly over America.
There's no limit to your stupidity is there? Why isn't there a 'free market' solution to this problem like the right wing promised we've have?
Does it really surprise anyone that with all the drugs and chemicals the Food and drug companies put into us every year that some virus' will find a way to get around them? Overpower them?
Does anyone see a connection between this and the fact that less than 1/2 the population who got a flu shot this past year are actually protected?
People need to be more responsible for what foods they eat and the drugs they take.
Anyone remember "The Stand"?
It's not a virus they're talking about. It's bacteria which is quite different. Antibiotics don't work for viruses but can work for bacteria. Unfortunately some bacteria have evolved to become antibiotic resistant. That's the problem.
The Stand was fiction, not reality.
Bacteria "evolved"? A large percentage of the US population would have trouble with that.
Regardless of whether a large percentage of the US population has trouble with this, it is fact, the bacteria have evolved to the point they are resistant. Unless of course it is god's plan that we all die of his special antibiotic resistant bacterium.
"The Stand" was fiction based on an actual occurance. Not to the degree in the book of course.
You don't believe something like that could actually happen? I do.
Just because you're paranoid, that doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.
Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm .. the real terrorist are arriving .... and they don't give a rats ass if your on the right or the left when they strike
You gonna trust "Homeland Security" with saving you? lol
What makes you think that any segment of the population would have a problem with bacteria evolving although the correct word is mutating, They are still just bacteria, They have not evolved into anything other than a bacteria. Man including religous men if that is who you are referencing have used mutation to their benefit for thousands of years, The hybriding of plants and animals by exposure to certain conditions.
Lost, you miss my point entirely. A good portion of the population would have an issue because they don't believe in evolution and the science that backs it up. Bacteria evolving/mutating is just one example of how evolution works.
Does anyone see a connection between this and the fact that less than 1/2 the population who got a flu shot this past year are actually protected?
Janine - how can there possibly be a connection between the fact that less than half the population got a flu shot last year, flu being caused by viruses, and increasing cases of illnesses caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria, bacteria being totally unrelated to viruses? That's like saying that there is a connection between the fact that apples don't taste like oranges. Haven't you ever had a course in biology or at least an introductory science course.
Pablo, When you can show me one instance of a bacteria evolving into a primate then maybe we can discuss it, Until then the theory does not hold water
mike - are you REALLY REALLY REALLY that fuc king S T U P I D???
I mean do you always smell fecal matter? It's because you have your head inserted into your anal orifice. Getta you head OUT
well lost - while not strictly a baxteria, WE (humans) are here - having started from a single celled creature sometime in the very distant past. I'm sorry if your religious brainwashing dictates that you maintain a mind like a snapped shut steel trap...
Wow, lost, I didn't know in order to evolve, everything needed to turn into a primate.. Do you realize how dumb you sound, trying to fight this? Everyone else here can grasp with the proper wording being used, on how bacteria changes (ie; evolving, mutatating) except you. Go back to church and quit trying to spout your deluded drivel here. You obviously have nothing of value to put towards this thread. You have no one-ups against science here, sorry.
And just when we'd dodged that meteor!
And that is why I avoid doctors and hospitals like the plague they have become... well, at least financially...
ok, want to blame someone, blame it on the drug companies who's only existence is to profit from our illnesses. Now they can manufacturer a stronger pill at a higher price that won't kill the disease but make it stronger. May I get off my crate now.
Don't bug me.
Isn't ironic that the "super bug" is showing up in healthcare facilities while the government is having a hard time paying the ss benefits to the elderly?
Is this happening for population control like wars?
Inquiring minds want to know.
As novel as the idea that sick people would......NO WAIT....Die in a nursing home.
The Earth is trying to shake of the Human Virus?
I like the way you think. Don't understand why there aren't MORE inquiring minds.
also, with the new heathcare in place, who gains the most if there are thousands of sick people?
yup, government, doctors, lawyers and pharma's......is ANYONE really surprised that the people that make the rules win by their own rules.
"made in china"
Interestingly there is a study in ISIS by Dr. Eva Sirinathsinghji which speaks about antibiotic resistance and shows entirely different and complex reasons for antibiotic resistance. It seems that genetic engineering in agriculture and biofuel fermentation may play a part in antibiotic resistance along with overuse in veterinary practices related to the food industry. This is a fascinating article about the synthetic bla gene and confirms some suspicions that I had about GMO foods. This is in all of China's rivers and I think we should be testing ours as well.
This is a direct consequence of Big Pharma's psychopathic quest for ever greater profits. Ironically, by pushing doctors to prescribe loads of antibiotics, Big Pharma has unwittingly shot itself in the foot. Their main worry now is not the people dying, but rather the shrinking volumes of orders for antibiotics no longer useful.
Actually, most doctors prescribe antibiotics for the flu, or a nasty cold or cough, because the patients won't shut the @!$%# up and leave when the doctor tells them "get plenty of liquids and rest, stay home for at least a week and up to a full day after fever breaks." Because the patients believe that the doctor has some magic pill that will make the sniffles go away and never stop to think they are part of a large ecosystem that is up to 90% (by cell count) non-human, that the bacteria in their gut can actually interact and transfer genes to other bacteria, and they believe that if one doctor won't prescribe what they mistakenly think exists, they'll find another.
A while back, when the recession hit, I remember that Walmart started a program where, for a few days out of the year or something, they would fill all generic prescriptions for free. The doctors were up in arms, saying that the price of antibiotics was the only thing keeping a whole lot of people from filling their prescriptions. Walmart shot back that the doctors should not be prescribing drugs if people don't need them. The doctors claimed that the patients demanded something, and they had other patients to see and treat.
It seems to be a vicious circle, and it starts with the stupidity of ignorant people, as well as their demanding and entitled attitudes. And, speaking of circles of stupidity... ^^
Big Pharma needs to be motivated via the NIH and the CDC to do more research into new antibiotic treatments. These types of drugs just aren't sexy, they'd rather find the next boner drug or anti-depressant or anti-cholesterol med. But I suspect that we will see more and more outbreaks of these superbugs in healthcare settings as more baby boomers hit old age and have to get treated for various ailments.
YAY Janstince!
@Derek-317802..................................Big Pharma could rid the world of most cancers but it most definitely will not do that. There are billions upon billions to be made for many decades. And until hundreds of thousands are dying due to these new superbugs they won't spend the money for research to find a medicine or vaccine to stop the spread. IMO Pharmaceuticals is the most dangerous Company in the world, and there is not one thing we can do about it. The problem with us (meaning U.S. Citizens) we just live and let live and don't do anything to form large groups to draw attention to the serious problems. Too bad someone doesn't have the charisma to gather millions of protesters to march on Washington and demand to express grievances.
antibiotics for the flu is like spray paint for a waterfall. It may look pretty but it does no GOOD whatsoever. Antivirals work on viri. Antibacterials work (generally) on bacteria. the generally is that sometimes they just DO NOT WORK. usually the MRSA bugs just figuratively "laughs" and ask "may I have some more, sir?". We can't develop effective drugs fast enough (but there have been some promising results from "mixing" cocktails of older drugs. A "chemo" approach.
Janstince - Simply to say... The workforce does not allow us to take the proper time off. A father of three kids and a wife cannot take a week off if he gets a cold, no one can! He'll lose his job! This season has shown a ton of different bugs going around, my husband had 6 different ones! Think he could take about 6 weeks off from his job because hes sick and wants to be courteous to others health? No! There are so many different reasons for the who, what, and why. And believe it or not, most people don't conspire against others on a regular basis, not all doctors want people dead. There isn't some cult every doc enters, swearing to give every deadly medicine and sickly advice. Get real! Some people just live life.
There is a trend for surgery outside the US due to reduced cost. Despite the claims of proponents, the so-called affordable health care act is driving up cost and will do so at an increasing rate. The article states:
So far, they’ve been associated mostly with people who’ve been hospitalized in countries outside the U.S
Expect this to get worse.
Oxygen is often the greatest "antibiotic" of all against many types of anaerobic infection, especially pneumonia. (I specialized in pneumonia and TB in Special Forces, and I interned in the last remaining sanitarium in the United States back in the early 1970s. They had closed down all the other sanitariums (they might need to think seriously about opening them back up again!) due to the advent of antibiotics, and they closed down this last remaining military sanitarium just as I finished my internship. But so antibiotics are losing their effectiveness as more and more drug resistant strains of germs emerge. Inhalation therapy using atomized (food grade) hydrogen peroxide might save a lot of lives in the future, especially when combined with Guaifenesin to break up the mucous shields these infections often use to shield themselves from drugs, especially in the lungs. I have personally treated myself successfully on hydrogen peroxide (food grade) inhalation therapy (+ Guaifenesin) alone for pneumonia, and I strongly recommend they give it a try. The blood stream actually transports this oxygen all through the body. It is high time to resurrect some of these older treatments now that many antibiotics are no longer effective. Just a suggestion. - Rick Carter
(Ultrasonic atomization (humidifiers) are what worked for me the best when using this approach. I personally used a 'teardrop' shaped one.) - RC
(Actually, I did boost my intake of vitamin D-3, vitamin C, and iron as well.) - RC
(CORRECTION: (typo) - "But so MANY antibiotics are losing their effectiveness as more and more drug resistant strains of germs emerge.")
(Only distilled water should be used to dilute this food grade hydrogen peroxide.)
(I also take a prophylactic enteric coated aspirin every day, and I already have been since the early 1980s. I was just a little bit concerned about the super oxygenation possibly leading to blood clots, so I was very careful to keep doing this throughout my treatment. But I am not aware of this being a major problem when using hyperbaric oxygen for super oxygenation instead.) - RC
Hydrogen peroxide??
How do you ingest that without it immediately oxidizing the first surface it contacts?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_peroxide
"Another controversial alternative medical procedure is inhalation of hydrogen peroxide at a concentration of about 1%"
Pneumonia treatment I could see perhaps, but sounds kinda extreme.
hyperbaric treatments might also work
So what are the symptoms...son has been ill for sometime and that pic of white globules look like what's in back of his throat. Pretty lame reporting....what ARE the symptoms?
Here is some more information regarding Carbapenem-resistant enterobacteria:
http://www.jbmh.com/workfiles//Carbapenem%20Resistant%20Enterobacteriaceae%20fact%20sheet%202012.pdf
So you are going to diagnose your son based on one internet article? Ever heard of the doctor?
It took forever to find this. The 1st few paragraphs explain it well.
Idiots like you caused this problem in the first place. If you could figure out the name of this last antibiotic that kills this you would run to the doctor and demand they give it to your child without even testing to see if its needed. The doctors wanting to avoid arguing with the patient have given out antibiotics for years when they weren't really needed. Too many people throw a fit and take their child to another doctor when the are told its a virus and the cure it to take the child home and wait for it to go away.
We really need a new disease that only kills stupid people.
We have one growing now and it is called being an Obama liberal.. They are going to get millions of people killed with their Socialist/Communist dream..
Obama liberals will kill millions.... unfortunately it won't be the gobermint dependent saps that deserve it.
leave obama alone he's not the source of the problem it's everyone and he's not communist
bill0000
Idiots like you caused this problem in the first place. If you could figure out the name of this last antibiotic that kills this you would run to the doctor and demand they give it to your child without even testing to see if its needed. The doctors wanting to avoid arguing with the patient have given out antibiotics for years when they weren't really needed. Too many people throw a fit and take their child to another doctor when the are told its a virus and the cure it to take the child home and wait for it to go away.
Bill000,
Although I agree that patients demanding treatment or ‘something’ to make them feel better is a pain for the doctors, who went into the business to help people…. But, whatever, the bottom line is the Dr.s need to man or woman up and say NO. It does not matter if the patient nags them they are the damn doctor, either do the job or don’t. The oath is to Do no Harm, if as you suggest doctors are just proscribing medicine they know will not help just to ‘get rid of people’ and by that I mean stop the nagging, not bump them off, then that is a crap doctor. Supposedly doctors are in a position to understand the big picture and should know better then to proscribe unneeded antibiotics that are not directly useful to the situation as they should know what over use of antibiotics can lead to….
Although all humanity has some blame to share, saying the doctors proscribe antibiotics to patients that do not need them just to shut the patients up is saying doctors are imbecilic morons who do not understand the drugs they prescribe and I doubt that…
So, what else is new? Yawn!
Shut down the greedy pharmaceutical companies! Actually, the government should make pot part of the new healthcare system, like condoms. It is not going to kill the bug, but at least we could die happy!
Superbugs, invasive species destroying the local ecosystem balance, millions of "undocumented" people sucking up resources (but reliable voters for dems), all these are benefits brought to us by irresponsible policies put forward by our imbeciles in charge in Washington.
All right who did not shut the door in the lab? Crap like this keeps up..No one will want to leave their homes..
I owned two super bugs back in the 70's, rather than being drug resistant, they seemed to be drug magnets!
Did you mean '60's?
(LOL!)
mine was 1880's
Hs321,
I believe it was the 70's, but that belief is subject to change as new facts swim into consciousness from the hazy depths of memories long past...happier times.
@hs321,
Both...................It was a really long party! :)
I award you with the "Best Post Today" and 10 internets sir. Well done.
I want to respond somehow to this line of chatter. Zeus you did it for me!! Thank You!!
This is a good thing. We need it to carry over into the general population. Humans, Earth's most dangerous and insidious predators, have so far dodged one natural population control after another while decimating every other species into extinction. Every species population needs thinning out from time to time in order for the species to survive. Maybe this is going to do it.
On the bright side, if it wipes out every long-term, chronically ill and mental vegetable in institutions across the globe, think of the trillions in health care that won't be spent. Why, hospitals will be crawling all over themselves giving bargain basement sales on health care to entice people to come in and get that face lift or that ingrown toenail taken care of.
In case I'm one of the victims, I'll say goodbye to you now. But if not, and you are the victim, it was nice knowing you.
"Every species population needs thinning out from time to time in order for the species to survive."
And do you volunteer for the thinning to begin with you?
Like it or not, nature does not play by OUR rules - if mankind does not control its numbers, nature will do it for us. And if you looked down on earth from a hundred thousand feet, what species of animal would you say had done the most damage to the earth - which needs culled? So - get ready, things are going to get kind of bumpy. And nature does not judge, which individual is good, which is bad, who is super-intelligent and who is dumb - she will fire a shotgun, and if you are standing in a big group, odds of being hit are greater than if you are in the woods by yourself.
Agree with you Georgieboy - I've had a great life, if the dice ome up snake eyes, well, better luck to the survivors! Enljoy-just do not be gluttons as we have been!
Can you say, "Yersinia pestis?" I knew ya could.... Remember, the black plague wiped out 35-50% of Europe's population between 1340 and 1400. Nature has a way of thinning the herd. Sooner or later there will be some sort of pandemic that will reduce the human population back down to sustainable levels. Will it be in my lifetime and am I at risk? Maybe--maybe not. We'll see....
First of all you would note that the earth is mostly water, Next you would note that although there are cities that for the most part the earth is not filled with people all over the place and is in fact quite rural, I live in NJ which is one of the most populous states per square mile in the US and while that is determined because of the populations concentrated in the cities NJ for the most part is rural, vast Forests and open fields.streams and farmlands, People like you should get out of the cities once in a while and discover the real world. Or better yet stay in the cities, Just don't try to make laws based upon your perception of the world because it is wrong.
Wonder what the ideal population for the long term would most benefit both humans and the planet may be?
Lost in the Pines - You speak volumes, more people just need to notice the open spaces that are there and like you said stop making laws based upon misguided perceptions.
I'm a self employed environmental microbiologist. It's kinda my job to keep an eye on these things and I'm pessimistic . But to your point..In nature, there are three types of control measures nature exerts to keep populations under control.
Predation- We've killed most of the wolves, lions, tigers and bears that might eat us, so that didn't work.
Warfare- We have an itchy anthropogenic trigger finger that might take care of a million here or a million there every year but not enough to balance our impact on the environment.
And Disease- when all else fails and there are too many of the same organism in more confined spaces, competing for dwindling resources, the organisms that were here from the beginning, (bacteria and viruses) will take care of the overpopulated. These bugs are nature's trump card when all else fails. If we can somehow all learn to get along internationally (doubtful) yet still outstrip the carrying capacity of the environment, nature is ready to knock us back to stone-age population levels.
Our next world war could be observed under a microscope.
we don't have overpopulation we have more than enough food and space to house the current population just that we waste so much resource and food ond greed and dumb stuff we have more than enough to share with the world but we waste our own food needlessley so don't say "overpopulation" like you know by the way evolution is just a theory and will always be so till proven otherwise which will take millions more years which we won't last that long at this rate sigh
@ avianflu23
You're living in a dream world. That can't be any farther from the truth.
Another false statement. The Theory of Evolution is over 150 years old and not one dent in it. Only getting stronger. BTW you need to look up the definition of Scientific Theory. For the layman it's equal to fact.
The cell theory is also just that, a theory........Now go and find a real university that teaches any other concept.
Man has always been the top of the pack when it comes to predators and has killed more than has been killed by them, Warfare has killed more humans that any predator ever could and disease has killed more humans that warfare ever could.
Mans greatest enemy has always been and always will be disease
oh, evolution is REAL, for sure - the evidence is clear. only the non-scientist disregards the evcidence
Aliens
I still think we have created the super bugs ourselves by creating the anti-bacterial soap products that kill 99% of the germs educating that one percent to adapt and constantly adapt to what medical science comes up with to kill them.
I hear you! It seems this year everybody has this creaping crudd that hangs on for weeks and they look terrible and there going to Med Point every other week for antibiotic, it's nuts. I stay away from them and move to the next lane at WalMart rather than stand behind them and there snot noses kids.
CRE-AKA-The Zombie Virus. The only reliable cures come in 12gauge.
It will only get worse as the economy picks up and people REALLY start to travel overseas. New bugs every single day. this is the real reason that Ellis Island was created. A stopping point to weed out sick immigrants. Those that were sick wound up taking the boat back home. Many actually died on Ellis Island.
Strange but true history.
Might be time to look towards the Russian-favored phage therapy. (Using bacteria-killing viruses)
When the population of any animal exceeds the environment's ability to support it nature finds a way to lower that population. Humans have passed that threshold. With the help of modern medicine we have held back natures population balancing efforts. Since we will not control our own population nature will do it for us. It is only a matter of time before nature finds the proper tool. Nature has plenty of time & will always prevail.
Do yourself a favor and get out of the city once in a while, The earth is not what you think it is.
It seem Wallace J must look at high rises all day long and has lots of traffic going by his front door. Sad!!! It's called the Appalachian Trail WJ, you need to check it out. Bring your hiking boots, it's going to get ruff! And you just might get eaten by a bear.
Lost in the Pines and sweaver:
Believe it or not, a lot of us do NOT live in the cities. I am in West Virginia, where the population density is a lot lower than New Jersey. Yes, I have been on the Appalachian Trail AND the Hatfield/McCoy RV trails - and yes, sometimes you can go for an hour before you see someone. But it does not change anything - a human creates X pounds of waster per day, some more and some less, but there is a minimum that is still created. The electricity that you and I use daily is produced by burning fuel (mostly). The boots you tramp the trail with were produced and probably brought to you on a container ship that burns tons of diesel fuel. These things end up acidifyimg even the vast oceans - have you heard about coral bleaching? Diseases in fish due to the mega-tons of trash that we dump into the oceans? Deny it or not, we are polluting the entire earth, water, land and air. And nature will use whatever means are necessary and effective for overall life to survive. We do not own the world - we are just here on suffrage.
Doctor Doctor, I live in rural Indiana, flat land, corn fields, beautiful fall colors, Amish all around the area. And who in the area is buying Solar and wind as power access, Amish. One of them has a very nice hightech store with new solar and wind units up at many of the homes. The non-Amish are starting to take notice. But when your out there, you have to make sure you don't step in the exhaust.
Hey, this is off the subject, (number of people the world will support), but solar cells are a real problem for me: first off cost - if you figured the real cost without the gubmint subsidizing, they would be really up there. Then pay out time - take the real cost, amount of power produced, and the time for cells to fail - they ain't gonna pay out before they die (or maybe you die). Then, producing cells: look at what goes in them - selenium, arsenic, cadmium, lead, some really nasty stuff - sure, it's the Chinese polluting THEIR country, poisoning their workers, but the stuff sooner or later gets to the oceans. Some money isn't worth saving!
so many are so scared to touch the earth (dirt)!...
Not really true. Nature doesn't do anything. Nature has no plans or goals. Overpopulation can lead to sudden population drops due to disease or loss of food, etc. But that isn't "nature" doing anything. It's just life.
This will all be solved when America's major fear of running out of pizza or beer changes to a fear of running out of disinfectant.
Is this infection found in any certain group of people? Disease has been diagnosed in this area and details were not made public to protect immigrants.
I'm sorry it really don't matter where it starts. In today's connected society a virus or germ can travel around the world pretty quickly.
Nature is continually evolving, and will never stop. Mankind, on the other hand, stopped evolving long ago, and will never resume. That's a formula for extinction.
I disagree. In a few hundred years there will be people who weren't killed by any of these super bugs. Just like our ancestors before us who "evolved" to be resiliant to other germs and passed that resistance down to us.
Let the culling of the heard begin. I'm not going down without a fight. My lineage will prevail.
nature doesn't have a will and evolution is just a theory
avianflu23 you really need to look up the definition of a Scientific Theory. Clueless.
People are of course still evolving. All life continually evolves.
only a VERY FEW life forms have remained static for a few million years. the crocodile is one of them.
wonder how many of these diseases are being brought up from the south. Most of those people have had no medical screaning of any type. Hmmmm maybe we should have protected our borders a little more.
"the south" You mean like Alabama, Florida, and Texas? Or did you mean those dirty Mexicans?
I think he was referring to below the US Mexico border but since you have elected to inject your hate into it Detroit and Chicago also probably have a good number of people who fit this category of having no health screening. I live in NJ, we have Camden and Newark that may have qualify here too.
sar·casm
noun
1. harsh or bitter derision or irony
2. a sharply ironical taunt; sneering or cutting remark: a review full of sarcasms.
Soup guy - No one has a sense of humor any more. Actually, I'd blame this on Canada.
The article accually talks about the super bug in Isreal and Europe and what it's doing over there. There's a passing mention of a couple people dying in the US and a report by the CDC, so i didn't see any reference to the south anywhere in it. The racist mentality on the website is really over the top at times. You really need to get out.
It's the dirty smelly mexicans. The stupid ones.... ok yeah all of them.