[Incorrigible]

Uh oh!

[A CA Guy]

What did Reagan, Bush I and Bush II know and when did they know it?

Look for this to be the new cry in the media!

[gunnedah]

America has turned her back on the things that made her great and pay day is just around the corner.

[b4its2late]

Damn germs.

[IronJack]

While this is certainly a cause for concern, this article strikes me as unduly alarmist, almost sensationalist. The medical community has been predicting this biological disaster for a decade now, and it is not coming to pass any more than the AIDS pandemic.

I'm always a little skeptical when I hear these apocalyptic predictions. Fear is never a safe motivator for radical social change.

[King Prout]

It has been a long time in coming, but it looks like its toe is now in the door.

[Travis McGee]

Very Scary Stuff!

[null and void]

AIIIIEEEE! We're all gonna DIE!!!!

[bert]

.....have caused mutant bacteria to flourish.....

More correctly "have allowed mutant bacteria to flourish".

A mutating bacteria is provided an enviroment to thrive with no existing antibiotic to kill it.

[handk]

Ozone kills all bacteria, viruses, pathogens and fungi upon contact.

Zero side effects.

Used routinely in Europe for over 50 years.

Illegal in America.

It's a "profit" thing.

[RLK]

In short, our saviors have become our assassins.

-----------------------

No, they haven't. I, for one, would have died long ago without them.

[RLK]

In short, our saviors have become our assassins.

-----------------------

No, they haven't. I, for one, would have died long ago without them. The people who are dying of resistance strains would be dying anyway. Don't blame it on the medications.

[xrp]

In July 1997, a 7-year-old African-American girl was admitted to a hospital in the Minneapolis area with a fever of 103 degrees and a staph infection in her right hip. She died after five weeks.

In January 1998, a 16-month-old Native American girl from North Dakota was taken to a local hospital with a fever of 105.2 degrees. She suffered toxic shock and died within two hours.

In January 1999, a 13-year-old girl in rural Minnesota was brought to the hospital with a small boil on her lower lip, fever and respiratory distress. She died a week later.

In February 1999, a 1-year-old North Dakota boy was admitted to a hospital with a lung infection, vomiting and dehydration. He died the next day.

Last spring, exactly four years after the 1-year-old North Dakota boy died, two Newark children were admitted to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, three weeks apart, with staph infections identical to the strain that killed all four Midwesterners.

What was the ??????-American label for the other children???

[mel]

I am far more concerned about VRE and the limited number of antibiotics to combat this disease. In the realm of things, the misuse of antibiotics is far more of a concern to me than if some talk show host got hooked on drugs after developing chronic back pain.

[expatpat]

This has been around for a while -- I believe Michael Crichton wrote a novel about the problem. IMO, new antibiotics need to be developed and used only in hospitals, to avoid prematurely-discontinued treatment, and can never be used for animals or for any but the most severe diseases.

[EagleMamaMT]

Read later.

[TalBlack]

Well, I'm bummed out.

[steve86]

Ping. Comments?

[KantianBurke]

"Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical industry cut back, or dropped altogether, antibiotic research programs in favor of those aimed at developing the more profitable "lifestyle" drugs, such as Celebrex, Lipitor and Viagra."

Once these deadly bugs become widespread i.e. people dying left and right, they'll become profitable quite quickly.

[usmom]

What really makes me irate are the doctors that throw up their hands and say 'the patients force us to write prescriptions for antibiotics for viral infections." For God's sake, grow a backbone and explain why you won't prescribe an antibiotic if it's not needed. THAT'S WHY YOU'RE THE DOCTOR!

I'm a pharmacist and every time some loser comes in for an antibiotic because they have a cold or virus I just want to shake them silly. I usually tell them that they are wasting their money and contributing to a very dangerous situation. Not that it does any good. They always think it's somebody else's problem and that thy are being 'safe' by taking the antibiotic 'just in case'. GRRRRR!

[boris]

This is very alarming, and much of it is true.

However.

Humans are inventing new antibiotics and other means of treating infections at an accelerating rate.

The Human Genome project is one positive sign.

I personally (a layman) am optimistic that we will outrace the bugs...at least for a while.

The big danger (to me) is the thousands of gallons of militarized bioagents--including bacteria and viruses--still in storage in Russia--and the almost non-existent security protecting them.

--Boris