LARGEST OUTBREAK OF "NIGHTMARE BACTERIA" IN ILLINOIS - INFECTIONS BECOMING UNTREATABLE

The largest outbreak to date of one strain of what authorities have called "nightmare bacteria" is adding to concerns about the spread of such drug-resistant bugs.

The outbreak, centered on a hospital in a Chicago suburb, has infected 44 people in Illinois over the past year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The bug, known as carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae, bears a rare enzyme that breaks down antibiotics.

"This is a huge cluster," said Alex Kallen, a medical officer with the CDC and supervisor for the Illinois outbreak investigation, noting that only 97 cases of the infection have been reported to the agency since 2009. 

The superbug, which typically lives in the intestines and is part of a large family of bacteria, can be spread via fecal matter. It isn't typically transmitted by casual contact outside hospitals.

Source - http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/01/08/outbreak-nightmare-bacteria-in-illinois-stirs-worry/


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INFECTIONS BECOMING UNTREATABLE, SAYS UK EXPERT

Growing resistance to antibiotics could lead to a tipping point where new infections are able to take hold in the UK, warns the director of the Wellcome Trust.

Professor Jeremy Farrar said everyday medical practice would be affected because the ‘golden age of antibiotics’ was set to end.  But the change would be gradual rather than the sudden emergence of new deadly bugs, he said.

He said complacency had set in during the 1970s and 1980s where there should have been more investment and antibiotics could have been used more wisely, for example in combination to deter resistance.

Read more - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2536186/Golden-age-antibiotics-ending-say-professor-Research-chief-says-infections-untreatable.html


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What is not always being said is that there is an overuse of antibiotics, both on human patients, and on farm animals.  This has led to the development of superbugs.

NEEDLESS USE OF ANTIBIOTICS IN AGRICULTURE

 PROMOTE RISE IN SUPERBUGS, SAY EXPERTS.

Medical Daily, December 2013: According to a new study from the University of Calgary, antibiotics fed to livestock accelerate the emergence of new, resistant strains of bacteria. Now experts are calling on officials to curb the practice by imposing fees and other disincentives.


Read more - http://www.medicaldaily.com/needless-use-antibiotics-agriculture-promotes-resistant-superbugs-experts-265793


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