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Todays Health Article

October 7th,2010 

It never ceases to amaze me how the world we live in, the bacteria that surrounds us daily, just like our world, theirs is everchanging  too.  For most of us, this goes undetected. We do not want to know the facts. We are only faced with reality when we wake up with their results,  their not so nice symptoms. ONLY then do we want the answer NOW!

In the Past

For many decades, more like centuries mankind has been developing and researching  antibiotics for all of our known  bacteria. Up until recent decades have we discovered  bacterias are ever changing. In  the past these bacterias had not been exposed to these newly developed bacteria… and just like the game “Packman”… they were stopped in their tracks or gobbled up.

Bacteria’s New and Improved

Just like the Game “Packman”… the bacteria now knows what antibiotics are coming. They have come to know them…Why because they perhaps have seen too much of them.  Many people are taking antibiotics for everything down to a sniffle. Guess what these bacteria, are becoming resistant. They have become the game! My first experience with this, was my wife’s exposure to VRE while in the hospital. Where else may you find more bacteria growing in one place. They placed her quarantine surroundings. Even today its a question asked, and if ever had, you are treated differently…

More awareness needs to be given to  these,VRE and MRSA,  a strain  ant-resistant to antibiotics. Now even greater feared the NDM-1 found in New Delhi.These anti-resistant to antibiotics are sometimes labeled, “Superbugs”.

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE)

This bacteria are normally present in the human intestines and in the female genital tract.                                                                  They are often found in our environment and can sometimes cause infections.

Vancomycin is an antibiotic that is often used to treat infections caused by enterococci. In some instances, enterococci have become resistant to this drug and thus are called vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Like I suggested ealier, most VRE infections occur in hospitals

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

en.wikipedia.org/…/Methicillin-resistant_Staphylococcus_aureus

MRSA is a bacterium responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans. It may also be called multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ORSA).

MRSA is, by definition, any strain of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria that has developed resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics which include the penicillins (methicillin, dicloxacillin, nafcillin, oxacillin, etc.) and the cephalosporins.

MRSA is especially troublesome in hospitals where patients with open wounds, invasive devices and weakened immune systems are at greater risk of infection than the general public.

 New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NDM-1,

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Delhi_metallo-beta-lactamase

New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM-1)^[1] is an enzyme that makes bacteria resistant to a broad range of beta-lactam antibiotics. These include the antibiotics of the carbapenem family, which are a mainstay for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. The gene for NDM-1 is one member of a large gene family that encodes beta-lactamase enzymes called carbapenemases. Bacteria that produce carbapenemases are often referred to in the news media as “superbugs” because infections caused by them are difficult to treat. Such bacteria are usually only susceptible to polymyxins and tigecycline.^[2]

New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, or NDM-1, been found in patients in South Asia and in Britain.

Also there have been  cases noted  in the United States — all  these patients  received recent medical care in India, a country where people often travel in search of affordable health care.

 Concern About Antibiotic-Resistant Bugs…

Have these bugs beome Viral Packmen  lately, taking on the in-your-face attitude towards what we throw at them.  Our research shows that several studies show that almost all the drugs that we would consider as our mainline defense against bacterial infections are now at risk from these bacteria. Not only are  they resistant to these drugs but they eat them for breakfastandcontinue to grow. Moreover, bacteria like NDM-1 frequently swap genes with each other, so pathogenic bacteria could develop a palate for antibiotics, that were not resistant before, now may able to do so… (if they haven’t already).

Todays Comments

Who would believe that this World of Superbugs, not only becoming resistant to antibiotics, but gobbling them up like little Packmen, mostly due to the over use and  over prescribing of antibiotics. Reminds me as youngster, did not like my green beans, but my parents kept feeding them to me til I liked them. Now they are one of favorite vegetables. Like this example we have fed the bacteria til now they can”t wait to get their next dose. They are surviving and now we are looking for that Super Antibiotic to fight off the Superbugs, sounds like a arcade game, but this is real life. Remember the next time you take an antibiotic, is it really needed, and if so take it for the prescribed time so that  are contributing to these bacteria,s welfare.