A remote tribe’s antibiotic resistance worries experts

Who would have thought that the Yanomami people (the tribe that was discovered only in 2008) would be resistant to some of the most modern antibiotics. Makes you wonder how much have we altered our immune system with changes made, many elements of contemporary life that can cut down on microbes, such as eating processed foods, taking antibiotics, hand sanitising etc.

A remote tribe in the Venezuelan Amazon appears to be resistant to modern antibiotics even though its members have had barely any contact with the outside world, researchers said on Friday.

The people, known as the Yanomami, were first spotted by air in 2008, and were visited a year later by a Venezuelan medical team that took samples from 34 of them, including skin and mouth swabs and stool samples. To protect their privacy, the name of their village was withheld from publication.

Scientists found that the tribespeople’s microbiome — the community of bacteria, fungi and viruses that live in and on the body — was far more diverse than seen in comparison communities of rural Venezuelans and Malawians. Their microbiome was twice as diverse as observed in a reference group of Americans.

www.asianage.com...

a reply to: Telos

Fascinating story! S&F.

If they can survive crawling with all those microbes,viri and fungi, not to mention any parasites like intestinal worms, ticks, fleas, lice, etc., then maybe they don't need antibiotics! Seriously, our medicine might be a bad idea for them.

a reply to: Telos

for the collective sanity of ATS members - i offer an alternative source article written by the scientifically literate :

source one


no offence to the OP - but his souce article is written by an idiot

No offense, but the Yanomami were not just discovered in 2008. I know this because I took a course in my early twenties, about twenty five years ago and one of the texts was called "Yanomami: the fierce people" or something very similar. I would find a link to that publication but I'm so tired my eyes won't focus, so it stays as anecdotal evidence. Sorry.

Interesting concept though.

Stupid bacteria . they don't recognize borders when it comes to incorporation of plasmids with antibiotic resistance genes on board .

originally posted by: igloo
No offense, but the Yanomami were not just discovered in 2008. I know this because I took a course in my early twenties, about twenty five years ago and one of the texts was called "Yanomami: the fierce people" or something very similar. I would find a link to that publication but I'm so tired my eyes won't focus, so it stays as anecdotal evidence. Sorry.

Interesting concept though.

The below quoted part is from the link offered by ignorant_ape. And my link says 2008

The research stems from the 2009 discovery of a tribe of Yanomami Amerindians in a remote mountainous area in southern Venezuela.

However all other scientific sources confirm what you say, Yanomami tribe has been known for the scientific community earlier than the date presented here. www.washingtonpost.com...

Now regarding the 2008-2009 date my take is that could be the Venezuelan part of the tribe (since their territory splits between Brazil Amazons and Venezuela Amazons. Or the time when the tribe was being studied by scientific community. Just a thought.

a reply to: igloo

Yanomami is a general term used to describe indiginious people living along the border of Venezuela and Brazil, deep in the rainforest. The general term has been used for over 250 years.

It may be that the particular village studied in this publication was only discovered in 2008.

a reply to: whismermill
I was just wondering about that, because I recall signing a Survival International petition for the Yanomami in the 1990s, and watching documentaries on them.
The tribe has been known since the 18th century.
en.wikipedia.org...

I wouldn't be surprised if the long-contacted villages traded pills with the remote village without proper instructions on how to use them or sufficient quantities to complete a course, and hence immunity rapidly developed.

Even Western people who are exposed to biomedical knowledge might feel a pill helped them, so they'll just give a few to their sick uncle.
With antibiotics that's a very bad idea.

a reply to: halfoldman

i don't think they need to have been handed pills or antibiotics, if you know that even a handshake or a contaminated doorknob can spread antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Simple trading could do the trick.

for those interested in the original publication:
advances.sciencemag.org...