In the world of infectious diseases there is a new bacterial strain causing concern and alarm in the medical community. This strain of bacteria is resistant to the majority of available antibiotics and has infected people in three states as well as Canada. The bacterium has infected people globally, according to health officials. The culprit is a rogue gene that causes the bacteria’s resistance to antibiotics.
The cases reported in the United States and Canada share one particular detail in common, each infected individual had received medical care in India. This resistant strain of bacteria is widespread in that country. There is no information as of yet, regarding the number of deaths attributed to this super-bug and the gene responsible for the drug resistant bug is mostly found in bacteria associated with stomach or urinary tract infections. Numerous cases have been reported in England.
Disease specialists have been dreading this day, the day conventional antibiotics fail to do their job. Of greater concern is how quickly a drug resistant strain can spread. Dr. M. Lindsay Grayson, director of infectious diseases at the University of Melbourne in Australia said, "It's just a matter of time" until the gene spreads more widely from one human to another. Time is something that is in short supply when battling infectious diseases. Unlike flu scares in the past, many doctors who specialize in infectious diseases are preparing for the worst case scenario. The gene responsible is called NDM-1, named for New Delhi, India, where the disease runs rampant.
Cases of NDM-1 were reported in California, Massachusetts and Illinois, according to Brandi Limbago, a lab chief at the CDC. Limbago said, "We want physicians to look for it.” The lab chief stated that doctors should pay special attention to patients who have traveled to India or Pakistan. In the reported cases, three types of bacteria were involved with three separate or different mechanisms that allowed the gene to bond to the bacteria.
The reason India has had such problems is twofold. First, India is an overpopulated country, where antibiotics are overused in an effort to cheaply and effectively treat widespread epidemics. Secondly, tainted water has caused widespread diarrheal diseases and this strain thrives in stomach and intestinal tract areas. Add to this the number of people traveling to and from India, and you have a potential pandemic. Air travel further spreads the disease globally. What can you do?
Do not ask your doctor for antibiotics. Most of them will not work for this strain. If you are prescribed antibiotics, use them correctly. Take the entire course, even if you feel better after a few days. Practice good hygiene, which goes without saying. Most of all don’t panic. Most of these bacterial diseases affect countries with substandard water and plumbing.
The three known cases have survived their ordeal. However, conventional antibiotics didn’t work. It should be noted that all three patients had developed medical problems while traveling in India, which led to the subsequent infection.
Comments
"What do you think?"
I think that, if the headline says "super-bug found in three states" you shouldn't have to get to the fourth paragraph before finding out which states. I learned that in junior-high journalism class. Apparently, that's no longer taught.
be nice to know what the bug is too
is it staph
is it MRSA
is it a gram negative
what the F*
Google "lota hindi urdu cleaning statemaster". Read one or more of the first ten links.
Recall the phrase from the above article ... "the gene responsible for the drug resistant bug is mostly found in bacteria associated with stomach or urinary tract infections"
Connect the dots:Lota dot, Left-hand dot, personal hygiene dot, soap (not?) widely available dot, warm hand washing water (not?) available dot, long standing cultural traditions dot, international air-travel more widely available dot, etc etc etc
Solution for the world? India/Pakistan need to Start washing hands (warm water + soap) and using toilet paper rather than lota pot and left-hand.
Problem? Countries rapidly clawing their way from the third-world to the first-world will have cultural issues such as this (e.g. early 1900 New York City issue with widespread presence of horses in the city, what did New York City with all the horse waste? Nothing! It filled the air as fine particulate matter and illness was rampant.
Obviously this may provoke a cultural flame-war about hygiene/health practices :-(:-(:-( Start with too many Americans being grotesquely overweight. I will agree with you :-):-):-)
Another example of why journalists should avoid writing public-health articles.
What species are involved? How are they spread? Are they endemic, epidemic, or pandemic?
Are the species related to the already-dangerous MRSA and VRE infecting Western hospitals?
How about something even more basic -- the common symptoms of infection?
That is the dumbest article I've ever read. Seriously. Someone gets *paid* to write that stuff?
Most uninformative article I have read today.
Public health news needs to give the reader useful information. While I appreciate the reiteration of common sense applied to antibiotics, there was little info on this "superbug" that generated this story.
This is the internet, though, so the writer has the opportunity to revise the story. (Writer: Your rewrite should include the name and type of disease and a description of the symptoms. If the method of transmission is known, tell us that. If it is not known, say so.)
I edit one story for free, after this I will have to charge you.
just find out what it uses take it away or take the freakin mitocondria and kil it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please tell us how to get rid of this bug. I am on my second round of medicine for this IF this disease is C.Diff.
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