Reports of rare superbug jump in US, CDC says

[TexasTowelie]

Source: NBC News

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 colonized with 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.

Read more: http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/27/17105852-reports-of-rare-superbug-jump-in-us-cdc-says?lite

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[Katashi_itto]

1. Sorry we can't do anything because of the Sequester. The Virus Spreads and finally explodes...

World ends due to Republicans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbapenem_resistant_enterobacteriaceae

Carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae is a family of gram-negative bacterium that are nearly immune to the carbapenem class of antibiotics, considered the "drug of last resort" for such infections. Death rates of up to 40% can be seen in patients, a rate much higher than other resistant infections such as MRSA or C. diff.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, CRE was first noticed in a North Carolina hospital in 2001. Since that time, it has spread to health care facilities in 41 other states. Studies showed that 3% of patients in Chicago-area ICUs carried CRE.[1] The same data indicated a 30% infection rate in long-term care facilities (e.g. nursing homes), though not all patients are symptomatic. There is no billing code for CRE under Medicare or Medicaid, making it difficult to track on a national level in the U.S.

Experts fear CRE as the new "superbug" Enterobacteria are common commensals and infectious agents seen in hospitals, clinics, surgical centers and rehabilitation facilities. Some media portray CRE as virtually untreatable.[1]

One method that has been found effective is to screen and isolate incoming patients from other facilities, and renewed focus on hand-washing. Since antibiotics are not as profitable for drug companies to produce — once treated, patients no longer need the drug, as opposed to chronic illnesses in which the patient takes the drug indefinitely — it is thought unlikely that a new antibiotic to fight CRE will be developed in the near future.[1]

Profit based defense...yet another reason why the Govt needs to take over Healthcare.

[WCLinolVir]

4. Good points.The FDA and big pharma get to decide standard of care.

The drugs that are approved are what become part of that. It is a horrible system. It is such a gross mass experiment on the public to put up drugs to make money. Much of what drugs do can be duplicated through diet and other alternatives. People need to never assume the doctor has the best choices as he is driven by the standard of care. Which covers his ass. The push for preventive therapies, life style changes etc.. are the result of needless deaths and a growing understanding of how compromised health care can be.

[Katashi_itto]

5. The cold hard fact, it will take a superbug killing a couple million Americans

before we get universal healthcare in place.

[TexasTowelie]

9. But the Repukes will be ecstatic

with saving all that money which would have otherwise gone for social security benefits.

[Katashi_itto]

10. Your not far off unfortunately. It's all those "takers" dying...yeah they'd be happy.

[WCLinolVir]

17. Katrina anyone?

If something comes down that affects the respiratory system, it will be chaos. No way a hospital could ever have enough ventilators to keep people afloat.

[happyslug]

13. Don't knock it, this happened to Syphilis in 1957

The US during WWII made an all out war on Syphilis (the infamous study on African American with untreated Syphilis was part of this war, but as a "control" and "Study" group as oppose to the all out attack on Syphilis). By 1957 Syphilis had almost disappeared from the US, if the US had kept up its attack from 1957 onward, that it had done since the 1940, Syphilis was expected to be gone by 1960. The problem was the Recession of 1957, which cut back revenue and thus Congress and the President decided to make budget cuts, which included cutting back the money on Syphilis, on the ground less people were actually being help then had been the case in the 1940s.

Congress just could NOT accept the concept that as a disease goes down, its gets harder and harder to get to the remaining elements. Such reductions are much like half life of radioactive elements. If a half life is 10 years, half is gone in 10 years, but it takes another 10 years for another 25% of the original to be gone (50% half life of the remaining 50% radioactive elements is is just 25% of the original). After 30 years, you are down to 12.5%, after 40 years 6.25%, 50 years. 3.125%.

Stopping a disease is similar, easy to eliminate the first 50%, but the next 25% cost as much as the first 50%. This goes on and on. Now, sooner or later you get to a point where the disease can not spread and is gone (Small pox did this in the 1980s), but to get to that point you have to spend the same amount of money to get smaller and smaller areas of infection.

In the later 1950s, the US Government war on Syphilis was getting to a point, most infections were from overseas, domestic spread of the disease was almost, but not quite, gone. Then Congress killed the funding, and Syphilis slowly regained its ability to spread.

Now, due to efforts to reduce AIDS, most Syphilis from domestic sources finally disappeared in the 1990s, yes, a 40 year delay due to a budget cut. Same thing can happen again, unless we are careful, and this Congress is not known to be careful.

[Brainstormy]

2. Health care workers my foot!

What are they supposed to do, when 80% of the antibiotics sold in the US go to animals, not people! What the increase in superbugs really "highlights" is the fact that the FDA works for Big Pharma and Big Food, not consumers. The subtherapeutic dosing of animals for growth promotion is why more people in the US die of MRSA than AIDS. This will only get worse.

From Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine:

The Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences has estimated that the annual cost of treating antibiotic-resistant infections in the United States is $30 billion.

You can help stop the nontherapuetic use of antibiotics on factory farms. Ask your members of Congress to become co-sponsors of the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (H.R. 965/S.1211), a bill that will protect human health by limiting the use of antibiotics in livestock.

To read the report and take action, visit PCRM.org/Antibiotics.

http://www.pcrm.org/search/?cid=2973

[bemildred]

3. Enjoy those Big Macs!

Allow me to point out that our "health care" and "agriculture" industries are driving the evolution of these bugs.

[siligut]

6. Weak intestinal flora is an open door to Carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae

Antibiotics and refined diets can make for weak intestinal flora.

[TeeYiYi]

14. A welcome reminder...

...of the importance of probiotics. Thank you for that.

TYY

[siligut]

15. Yes, probiotics and prebiotics

Foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt, kefir, miso, sourdough bread, vinegar with the mother and pickles all contribute to healthy intestinal flora. Of course people also use the capsule form of probiotics.

Then you need prebiotic foods to nourish the healthy bacteria, these are whole foods with fermentable fiber, like oats, barley and brown rice.

Diets high in refined foods, like sugar and white wheat flour contribute to the growth of less desirable bacteria by decreasing desirable bacteria.

This is one of my many "things', so thanks for letting me soapbox

[TeeYiYi]

16. In the future...

..., if I hear the skritch skritch sound of your soapbox being dragged out, I'll definitely show up to hear what you have to say. Good info!

TYY

[triplepoint]

7. Code Name Selected for Your Organism: "Andromeda Strain"

or was it "Satan Bug?"
.
.

(original version)
.
.

.
.
Looks like the beeg "die-off" party is about to begin...

[Katashi_itto]

11. If their going to kill us..they could at least give us "The Rage" virus

I would'nt mind it so much, going out as either a frenzied zombie, or trying to survive against raging hordes of "The Infected"

[Katashi_itto]

12. Six months with the sequester and anything else that comes down the pipes and

we will get this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014409759

[rwsanders]

8. Here's a link about how the obsession with "sterile" environments actually helps the spread...

I'm not disputed the Big Ag connection. I worked for MO Department of Natural Resources (which is fundamentally designed to prevent anyone in the state from more agressive EPA action, and preventing most meaningful enforcement).
But the point of the article is that if you remove more prolific but less virulent "outdoor" bugs, all you get in a hospital environment is human derived bugs which are largely pathogenic. If you then constantly try to "sterilize", the bugs that are left are the worst of the worst.
http://discovermagazine.com/2012/jul-aug/06-earths-last-unexplored-wilderness-your-home

[kelliekat44]

18. It seems to me that this info means we should be paying more attention to immigrants from the ME &

Asia than Mexico. I suspect a lot of this comes from visitors to and from the ME, Asia, India, and N. Africa. What kind of health screening does the US have concerning VISAs? I hope that I don't get a lot of flack from this but it seems fairly obvious to me to be concerned about how this stuff is being introduced into the country. Cruise ships are also suspect considering the recent episodes of Carnival.