Fascinating Science/Medical Article ...

[nightdog_barks]

... and possible bunny source for writers, in the new issue (August 8th & 11th) of The New Yorker.



Superbugs, by Jerome Groopman.

Explores the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, in particular the "ESKAPE"-class bugs (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumanni, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and the Entero-bacter species). Recaps the story of over-prescribing for viral infections and the shift by Big Pharma towards maintenance drugs (e.g., Lipitor for high cholesterol) that people essentially take forever.

Interesting quote:

Doctors and researchers fear that these bacteria may become entrenched in hospitals, threatening any patient who has significant health issues. “Anytime you hear about some kid getting snatched, you want to find something in that story that will convince you that that family is different from yours,” Dr. Louis Rice, an expert in antibiotic resistance at Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, told me. “But the problem is that any of us could be an I.C.U. patient tomorrow. It’s not easy to convey this to people if it’s not immediately a threat. You don’t want to think about it. But it’s actually anybody who goes into a hospital. This is scary stuff.” Rice mentioned that he had a mild sinusitis and was hoping it would not need to be treated, because taking an antibiotic could change the balance of microbes in his body and make it easier for him to contract a pathogenic organism while doing his rounds at the hospital.

Comments

[blackmare-9.livejournal.com]

No, of course we don't want to think about it, because really, what will thinking about it accomplish? Other than, you know, stress-related illness?

And you are so going to give Wilson one of these nasty infections, aren't you?

*sigh*

:-)

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

And you are so going to give Wilson one of these nasty infections, aren't you?

Heh. Not anytime soon -- I already have enough stuff I haven't finished. *g*

[phinnia.livejournal.com]

I read that! isn't it marvelous? In an utterly creepy way.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

It was marvelous! These bugs being coated with a different kind of shell (sugary!), the way the doctors discovered the outbreak at one hospital was due to the Foley catheters spattering urine around ... it was cool.

And creepy. Hee.

[phinnia.livejournal.com]

I remember the science of it from my microbiology labs a thousand years ago now. It's kind of creepy and eerie that it's getting worse, but fascinating in an evolutionary way ...

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Did you also read The Chameleon (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/08/11/080811fa_fact_grann)?

Sickness of an altogether different kind, and truly OMG CREEPY.

[phinnia.livejournal.com]

*reads it*
Oh my GOD. Just - wow.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

I KNOW!

That story scared me. That is just ... holy crap. So sad and crazy and people wanting to believe no matter what. I should've known just from the photo of the guy that it was going to be totally unnerving.

Eeeeee. *shivers*

[bironic.livejournal.com]

And efflux! That was cool.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed that article too. The part about how antibiotics are the only drugs that doctors urge other doctors not to use when they're developed made me laugh, in a horrified sort of way. elynittria recommended a Groopman book a while back, How Doctors Think, that I picked up but haven't read yet.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

The part about how antibiotics are the only drugs that doctors urge other doctors not to use when they're developed made me laugh, in a horrified sort of way.

Yes! It's like, "Here, we've developed all these life-saving drugs, but let's not use them because they could be lost to us too quickly." Scary and sad. I mean, if you carry that to it's fullest extent, how do you decide who to save? When to use the drug? Ouch.

[misanthropicobs.livejournal.com]

A very large part of the problem is that we've been using antibiotics and disinfectants for years in everything from household cleaners to animal food. Therefore it's just one more way humans shoot themselves in the foot because by using low levels of these things that kill 99.9% of something it means that the other .1 percent which survive are the resistant bugs which then reproduce with each other giving rise to ever more resistant bugs. Hence the warnings about not using unless it is truly a last resort. Talk about "evolution in action" and we are one of the driving forces in this evolution.

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

Now I'm torn between wanting to read it -- because he's a really terrific writer -- and not wanting to feed my well-founded fears. I get nasty life-threatening infections about two seconds after somebody sticks an I.V. in me.

You get the New Yorker five to seven days before we do. Either they're reading my copy at the post office or the mailing schedule is really different for the two sides of the country. :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

She gets it a day or two before I do, and I live in New York!

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Heh! Incredibly enough, I don't think Groopman lists any cases of infection-by-IV. He throws out left-field stuff, like football players catching bugs through turf-toe abrasions and the aforementioned Foley catheters dribbling urine onto machines.

[blackmare-9.livejournal.com]

Nope, he mentioned IV lines I think. I ... skimmed a little, because I'm too easily traumatized.

The article did give me another reason to buy organic and/or "raised without drugs" meats, though. Yoiks.

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

Hugh fans ought to avoid the New Yorker's supposed TV critic, Nancy Franklin. the bitch slags him off A LOT.

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

The odd thing is that resistant bugs can be weaker than the original susceptible strains--it's just that the selection pressure of the antibiotic favored their proliferation. And it's not surprising to find antibiotic-resistant organisms even in places that were never exposed to antibiotics. Most natural antibiotics like streptomycin were originally isolated from bugs living in soil. The bugs in feces deposited in soil, would have to fight to survive.