New strain of Staph called 'Superbug'

Found this in yahoo news. Staph infection is no joke as it is, but this strain is particularly nasty. Seems to be very resiliant to most common anti-biotics.

A dangerous, drug-resistant staph germ may be infecting as many as 5 percent of hospital and nursing home patients, according to a comprehensive study.

At least 30,000 U.S. hospital patients may have the superbug at any given time, according to a survey released Monday by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

The estimate is about 10 times the rate that some health officials had previously estimated.

health.yahoo.com...

Yet another side effect from anti-biotics being jammed down our throats over the past years. I know growing up, any time I went to the doctor I always got anti-biotics.

Given the severity of this strain I know I definately would not like to get near it. I have had a mild case of staph infection before I can tell you first hand it is no fun at all. I couldn't imagine it being as bad as that article says.

I think that it is more than jamming antibiotics down our throats, the number of antibiotics produced in the pas 10 years has been on a decline. This allow random genetic mutations to catch up to the current antibiotic therapy.

see i for one agree that all they give are anti biotics. for any thing. you have a problem here have a pill. and i mean. the human species has lived for how long with out antibiotics just to get to a certain point and then have diseases and viruses and any degerative "problem" skyrocket. how can we honestly trust someone who keeps SMALLPOX alive in a petri dish. case in point the us governement. how many world killers have they kept alive to "study". its disgusting. now im not saying canada is any better because its not. were probly worse for the fact that less people talk about the problems here so we dont even know whats going on really. i just think if they have all these resources why arent they fighting to get rid of things but instead finding a way to keep them alive for profit.

I can agree it may be more than just overuse of anti-biotics. What do you think are some factors involved? Bacteria is an organism, and like all organisms they adapt to thier environment. Thus they became resiliant to first-line anti-biotics.

I read on another site they put all resiliant to methicilin and similar drug infections into flesh-eating bacteria category.

Two teams of experts are saying that a drug-resistant "superbug" previously only found in hospitals is becoming more common in the community and must be aggressively treated. They say that staphylococcus aureus, or staph, infections that are resistant to methicillin and similar drugs can now be put into the category of flesh-eating bacteria and doctors need to be aware of this and exchange antibiotics at the first sign of trouble.

www.news-medical.net...

Hmmm, MRSA and its nasty friends have been around for some time. But the percentages are going up.

Indescriminate use of antibiotics are certainly one cause, but failure to take all your medications is also part of the problem. Lets face it, when people feel better they forget to finish thier medication regimne. By doing so the resistant bugs survive and proliferate.

Also, the medical community is getting better at not simply giving out pills for everything. Also the consumer (you and me) also need to change our expectations as well. Most people EXPECT to get a prescription when they see the doctor. That thankfully is going by the wayside as well.

I know personally I have been guilty of stopping my medication when I start feeling better. One thing that has helped is the anti-biotics that you only take for like 5 days. Take 5 on first day, then 4.. 3... 2..1 on last day and your done. Way better than a bottle full of pills.

I work in the oilfield and for some reason Staph is fairly common infection on rigs and in shops. I will make certain to wash my hands more often and keep some sanitizer handy.

now again i agree to an extent. but i dont really take anti biotics. the only reason ive gone to doctors is when it actually becomes life threatening, and i have a great life still. im almost never sick, when i get injured i heal myself. i dont like going through donctors to fix anything. i believe that we can deal with most things on our own. giving antibiotics for small things has turned the smaller viruses and things into real problems. and as i just read on a site regarding staph infections. in order for it to take hold you have to get a cut or something for it to get into. now when you have a cut your body is using its white blood cells and therefore your immune system is at work, so when you get this new problem, your system isnt at full strength and has problems coping.

You are correct. There are other places we get an abundance of anti-biotics from. The grocery store is a main source. It's no secret that many farmers, wether raising animals or raising crops, use anti-biotics liberally.

It is livestock producers, however, who use the vast majority of antibiotics produced in the United States. An estimated 70 percent of antibiotics and related drugs produced in this country are used for nontherapeutic purposes such as accelerating animal growth and compensating for overcrowded and unsanitary conditions on large-scale confinement facilities known as "factory farms." This translates to about 25 million pounds of antibiotics and related drugs fed every year to livestock for nontherapeutic purposes—almost eight times the amount given to humans to treat disease.

www.ucsusa.org...

The FDA is however making progress in stemming some of the missuse. When you think about it, from infancy your basically bombarded with anti-biotics. Milk, meats, eggs, cheese, fruits, vegetables, all soaked with it. Even if your mother nursed you, if she ate things with antibiotics in it, surely that is passed somewhat into her milk. Anyway, its definately some food for thought...

If I were you guys I would be more afraid of vancomycin resistant enteroccal infections.
MRSA is a very old problem and the % of cases in different nations varies due to the proliferation of antibiotic use in different national circumatances. CL dificile infection is a killer which again is a problem.

The point is not necessarily from antibiotics given for a specific infection that over time do not work on that infection. But of antibiotics used for anything, at any time for any period. We all carry commensal organisms arround with us, 40% of us carry (harmlessly) S aureus, which if allowed to "infect"the 60% can cause serious issues with or without resistance.

The point is that whenever we take antibiotics these commensal organisms are exposed perhaps in sublethal doses to the antibiotics. Combine this with the plasmid mediated method of genetic material transfer between bacteria and this is and was a disater waiting to happen.

We have to stop winging about it and employ some serious thinking to producing more and newer methods of controlling infections. This is how progress is made. Wringing our hands and witholding antibiotic treatments is not necessarily going to make the problem go away. Bacteria have the ability to lose resistance as well, if the stimlus for having it is removed i.e. Broad spectrum Antibiotics in food etc.

Don't forget what the situation was like before the 1940's and penicillin and the sulponilamide drugs. My mother had TB and nearly died due to the fact that there was a. no vaccination and b. no real antibiotic treatment available in the 1940's. Many sufferers either died of TB or pneumonia.

Pneumococcal infections are at a high in Germany at the moment because of influxes of infected individuals. I know I had such an infection this year, only the use of the most disgusting tasting tablet form new antibiotics saved me from something more serious..

We need to innovate to defeat the oldest lving creatures on the planet, they didn't get that title by rolling over and playing dead. We have been fighting them since we decided to walk upright, the last 60 years was good lets hope the next 60 are even better. Somehow I doubt it.