antibiotics

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“Nightmare Bacteria” on the Move and Moving Fast

Antibiotic resistant bacteria is on the rise across the United States. According to the CDC, “more than 23,000 Americans die each year from infections caused by germs resistant to antibiotics.” They recently released a report with even more startling news. In 2017 there were over 200 cases of “nightmare” bacteria found in 27 states. According to LiveScience:

One particularly concerning type of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is called carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, which has been dubbed “nightmare” bacteria. These bacteria are not only resistant to many antibiotics but are also highly lethal, killing up to 50 percent of infected patients, according to the CDC.

Doctors liken the spread of CRE and other antibiotic-resistant germs to a wildfire, which is difficult to contain once it spreads widely.

Even more concerning is that 1 in 10 people show no symptoms at all.  And while the “nightmare bacteria” known as CRE has not been found in all states (yet), general antibiotic resistance is just about everywhere.

The CDC suggests an aggressive approach. No, they don’t want you to go out and buy containment suits and build a bunker, though that is my suggestion. They emphasize that “early and aggressive action—when even a single case is found—can keep germs with unusual resistance from spreading in health care facilities and causing hard-to-treat or even untreatable infections.” This includes health care providers identifying resistant germs rapidly and “using infection control measures such as hospital gloves, gowns and more stringent cleaning in the rooms of infected patients. They also recommend testing patients without symptoms who may carry and spread the germs.”

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Platypus Milk to Fight Superbugs

Scientists are on the search for new ways to fight superbugs, and have discovered a protein in platypus milk that could save lives. Superbugs, a catch-all term for antibiotic resistant bacteria, increasingly threaten our existence. According to the CDC, “each year in the United States, at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these infections.”

Platypus have a unique feeding system. Instead of teats, the milk concentrates in their belly, and they feed their young by sweating the milk out. Scientists think that this feeding system produces antibacterial protein in the milk “in order to protect the young from the possibility of infection. When mammals evolved teats, a sterile delivery system for milk, the protein was no longer as important in an evolutionary sense.”

According to Janet Newman, CSIRO scientist and lead author on the research, “Platypus are such weird animals that it would make sense for them to have weird biochemistry.” National Geographic describes the platypus “as a hodgepodge of more familiar species” such as the duck, beaver, and otter. Male platypus are venomous and have stingers on their feet that can deliver poisonous blows, which is a pretty nifty defense mechanism I wish I had.

 

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“Fresh Hope in the Antibiotics Arms Race”

The future is dirt. A research team at Rockefeller University has found a potential new class of antibiotics in soil, named malacidins, that can effectively fight superbugs. Antibiotic resistance is a growing threat to the world. According to the CDC, in the U.S. alone 2 million people become infected with antibiotic resistant bacteria and over 3,000 people die each year as a result.  WIRED does a good job of describing the potentially very real grim future:

We’re rewinding to a world where death begins in childbirth, where premature babies die, where newborns go blind from gonorrhea. Routine injuries become life-threatening infections. You could lose a limb, or your life, from a careless slip with a paring knife or an accidental fall in India. The risks of organ transplants and medical implants would outweigh any potential benefit. Go in for routine dental surgery and end up in a body bag.

Too dark? The WHO has a very cute 1 minute video explaining the basics of antibiotic resistance with giant cartoon superbugs. Scientists have been on a race against time to find new antibiotics.

The research team, led by Dr. Sean Brady, tested the compounds on a rat infected with MRSA, and were able to eliminate the infection. However, Dr. Brady says, “It is a long, arduous road from the initial discovery of an antibiotic to a clinically used entity.” But he is optimistic about the future of antibiotics, and says, “Our idea is, there’s this reservoir of antibiotics out in the environment we haven’t accessed yet.”

 

 

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Catching a Wave of Antibiotic Resistance

The surf is up, filled with the salty waters of antibiotic resistance. A study published in the Environment International journal found that surfers were three times as likely to be carrying antibiotic resistant E. coli in their stool than non-surfers. Researchers believe this is because surfers are more likely to swallow water than the non-surfing population. As someone who has tried surfing exactly once, I can attest that I unintentionally swallowed much more Venice Beach ocean water than I wanted to.

Newsweek explains:

When antibiotics are fed to livestock and farmers use their manure to fertilize crops, the antibiotics in their system can give rise to [antibiotic resistance]. When those crops are watered, runoff from the fields sometimes make it into bodies of water. When people swim in that water or swallow it, they are prone to infection.

Surfers, who may be generally healthy, are unlikely to get severely sick from ingesting the bacteria. However, “they could spread the bacteria to anyone they interact with, including the elderly and people with compromised immune systems,” resulting in much more severe consequences.

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Antibiotic Use on Farms Drops

In unexpected but good news, the FDA announced this week that antibiotic sales for use on farm animals has dropped 10% since they began collecting data in 2009. Overuse of antibiotics is a major contributor to antibiotic resistance, which is going to have life and death consequences for all of us (mostly on the death side). Farms use antibiotics to prevent animals from getting sick, and they also have the nice side effect of making animals grow faster, which means more meat eating and more money. Though the 2016 antibiotic sales numbers are still higher than in 2009, it is a step in the right direction.

According to a statement from Avinash Kar, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, “this course change provides a glimmer of hope that we can beat the growing epidemic of drug-resistant infections.”

Many large poultry company have made commitments over the past two years to reduce antibiotic use in chickens. Perdue Farms has led the way in this effort, and the vast majority of the company’s chickens now get no antibiotics at all.