Posted on 12/03/2005 6:21:05 AM PST by InvisibleChurch
Deadly bacteria spreading through US hospitals
A lethal bacteria which surfaces in people being treated with antibiotics is spreading in North America and has grown resistant to drugs, according to two studies published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
According to one of the studies, a new, virulent and resistant strain of the bacteria Clostridium difficile broke out in eight US hospital centers between 2000 and 2003.
Provoked by antibiotics inside the intestines of hospital patients, the bacteria showed an ability to mutate and increase its resistance to drugs, the report said.
Moreover, the bacteria, which infects the colon causing severe diarrhea and colitis, a severe inflammation of the intestine, has begun showing up in patients not taking antibiotics or visiting hospitals.
Symptoms include watery, malodorous diarrhea and cramps.
A second study of 1,703 patients in 12 hospitals in Quebec, Canada, demonstrated the lethality of the bacteria.
Over 13 years the incidence of the bacteria grew fourfold in Quebec, and in 2004 it caused the deaths of 117 people in the first month after they were diagnosed. All of the victims were elderly.
"Hospitals need to be conducting surveillance and implementing control measures. And all of us need to realize the risk of antibiotic use may be increasing," warned epidemiologist Clifford McDonald of the US Centers for Disiease Control.
Scientists were concerned that Clostridium difficile -- so-named because of the difficulty in detecting it -- had become very resistant to fluoroquinolone antibiotics usually used to treat such infections.
"If this epidemic strain continues to spread (...) it will be important either to reconsider the use of fluoroquinolones or to develop other innovative measures for controlling C. difficile-associated disease," said McDonald.
That is exactly why we need to be using more natural cures for minor illnesses and not over prescribing anti biotics. That is why we have superbugs such as MRSA (Staph) and VRE and many others.
search..search..search..
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1532941/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1532454/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1532097/posts
for the saturday morning crowd, thank you ... a cup 'o joe and a story of diarrhea gets my day going
Lets see : Now we have a bacteria that grows because people are taking anti-biotics and it doesnt respond to being treated with more anti-biotics. Its getting so going to the Hospital is more dangerous than jumping off a bridge on a Bungy cord.
Staph infections and now this.
We already know Doctors mistakes kill more people than guns, Now we have medicines that are working against us.
It's nothing new. People have been unnecessarily taking antibiotics for years, inadvertently creating super-bugs. But try telling someone to go home, drink fluids and get some rest and they'll think your a quack. Every other commercial on TV describes some miracle chemical that will cure or alleviate whatever ails you. People want their drugs (but for heaven's sake don't ask them to pay for them).
If you arn't sick when you go in, it appears you will be when discharged.
One problem is people stop taking antibiotics too soon thereby allowing some bacteria to survive the initial onslaught of the antibiotic and develope an immunity thereto. I know many relatives and friends who have stopped taking antibiotics before the time prescribed by their doctor because they are feeling better.
"... the bacteria showed an ability to mutate and increase its resistance to drugs ..."
Mutating its own organism to better adapt to its environment: EVOLUTION IN ACTION!
(Fire away.)
"Gave her acidophilus 3 times a day."
My SIL was diagnosed with a bad case of mono. Hospitalized for dehydration.
After three weeks at home, she still had all the symptoms of c. difficile, a family member finally got her an appt with a digestive specialist. The specialist has her on acidophilus and after 3 days she is already feeling better.
Hope your mother continues to improve.
Hell, I remember when you didn't even THINK of going to the doc when you had cold or flu -- you just STAYED HOME, drank a ton of oj, and rested.
My biggest pet peeve is bungholes who feel it's their God-given right to, (A) go to the doctor every time they sniffle or their stool changes coler, and (B)wander around infecting the rest of us with whatever they've got.
The worst offenders are the Medicare crowd that insists on socializing at the doctor's office at least twice a week. That's all they seem to live for in their "golden years". I first became aware of this when I took my father to the urologist's office and saw the same crowd there every time we went. We wised up and quit taking him and his bladder infections stopped. It taught us a valuable lesson.
There are some cases where people cannot tolerate the antibiotic. I was taking cipro in combination with another antibiotic and after 3 days the doctor told me to stop because it was making very sick. These were very strong antibiotics. They kills everything, maybe even yourself.
These are not "mutations". This is natural selection, not "evolution".
The strongest and most resistant to antibiotics survive. If Clostridium difficile "mutated" they would not longer be called "Clostridium difficile". They would be called something else.
What's scary is that they are increasingly using genetically modified yeast to make all kinds of pharmaceuticals and even industrial chemicals. What happens if they get in our guts???
malodorous diarrhea?
This reporter must be on loan from the Department of Redundancy Department.
Maybe we should go to the doctor a bit more often...
Mark
AVOID hospitals at ALL cost....they should be a last resort.
I also had to take cipro for a bad lung infection last year. The cipro made me sick as a dog,real bad vertigo-but it cured the infection.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.