Antibiotic-Resistant Infections Lead to 23,000 Deaths a Year, C.D.C. Finds

[question everything]

Source: NYT

Federal health officials reported Monday that at least two million Americans fall ill from antibiotic-resistant bacteria every year and that at least 23,000 die from those infections, putting a hard number on a growing public health threat. It was the first time that federal authorities quantified the effects of organisms that many antibiotics are powerless to fight.

(snip)

One point of contention has been the extent to which industrial-scale animal farming contributes to the problem of antibiotic-resistant infections in humans. The government has estimated that more than 70 percent of antibiotics in the United States are given to animals. Companies use them to prevent sickness when animals are packed together in ways that breed infection. They also use them to make animals grow faster, though federal authorities are trying to stop that. The report said that “much of antibiotic use in animals is unnecessary and inappropriate and makes everyone less safe.” It also said that about half of antibiotic use in people is inappropriate.

(snip)

Hospitals have taken steps to prevent drug-resistant infections, but less is known about preventing infections outside hospitals, clinics and nursing homes. There has been little research, for example, on the extent to which antibiotic use on industrial farms contributes to resistant germs in people. The farm animal industry has been reluctant to allow data collection, and very few studies of the link have been done.





Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/17/health/cdc-report-finds-23000-deaths-a-year-from-antibiotic-resistant-infections.html

[Avalux]

1. It's going to get exponentially worse unless novel antibiotics are developed....

and the only way that's going to happen is by government funding. It's just a matter of time until more and more bacteria evolve and become resistant to the current arsenal of antibiotics - by then it will be a public health catastrophe.

Everyone I know has been advocating new antibiotic development for years, but there's not real profit in it for big pharma so they don't do it.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

2. anybody suffering a sinus infection?

I run into a lot of people who are experiencing this. I'm on my 2nd round of antibiotics. And I don't ever want to take them - until I get sick like this. It chases away that danger signal.

[BlueJazz]

3. "The farm animal industry has been reluctant to allow data collection" Sweet Jesus....What the ...

...hell do we have to do ??
Hire the Russian Mafia to knock some heads together so we (The people) can get some data ??

Absolutely ridiculous.

[Aristus]

4. Factory-farming has a huge role to play in this, however,

everyone can help at the personal level.

If you've got a little sniffle, don't ask your provider for antibiotics. If he/she is a good medical provider, he/she won't prescribe them, since your little sniffle is a viral, not a bacterial infection. If your request for antibiotics is refused, don't berate your provider; accept that they know what they're doing, and that they take growing antibiotic resistance seriously.

[nashville_brook]

5. i was almost one in 2003...picked up in a hospital.

[YOHABLO]

11. Yes, at all costs, try to stay out of the hospital.

[underpants]

6. Just about to post this - well we knew this

my doctor HATES anti-bacterial hand sanitizers....but this is in our food.

[question everything]

7. The problem is that we knew, for more than 30 years

that adding antibiotics to farm animals can make it to humans. And they are added just to promote growth. The faster they gain weight the sooner they can go to market and the less the farmer has to spend on feed.

And, yes, treating the common cold - caused by a virus - with antibiotics is completely useless.

[underpants]

8. feed cow to cow. load up cow with anti-biotics.

I can't give blood because I told the truth to the Red Cross about living in Europe for more than 3 months after 1980 (US Armey service). They keep really good records.


There is no test for mad cow disease. That is why I can't give blood anymore.

[markpkessinger]

10. The problem isn't so much that the antibiotic makes it to humans as it is . . .

. . . that a certain amount of it is excreted along with the animal's ordinary waste product. Thus, you have bacteria in the environment receiving long-term exposure to low levels of these antibiotics -- and that is a textbook-perfect way to enable a bacteria to develop resistance to them. When that bacteria, or its offspring, later infect a person, it retains that resistance. A good friend of mine died a few years ago at the age of 35 from a hospital-acquired vancomycin-resistant strain of staph. Once you've made your way up the ladder of antibiotics to vancomycin, and your infection is resistant even to that, unless your own immune system is strong enough to fight it off, you are seriously fucked.

[markpkessinger]

9. I lost a good friend to one of these antibiotic-resistant staff infections

He contracted it while hospitalized for another problem. In his case, it was VRSA (Vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). Vancomycin, of course, is the antibiotic of last resort. If a staff infection is resistant to that, then it is all up to your own immune system's ability to fight it off. My friend was 35.

[question everything]

12. I am sorry for your loss. How despairing this can be

it is hard to imagine, in the 21st Century that people can still die from bacterial infection.

[du_grad]

13. Info on VRSA/VISA

Here is some information from CDC on VRSA/VISA.

http://www.cdc.gov/HAI/organisms/visa_vrsa/visa_vrsa.html

http://www.cdc.gov/HAI/settings/lab/visa_vrsa_lab_detection.html

I am a medical technologist who works in clinical microbiology. I have never actually seen one of these organisms, but I know they exist. The Infectious Disease docs are starting to use Ceftaroline for Staph. aureus that have a Vancomycin MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) of 2 or greater on their susceptibility patterns. A "2" is still considered in the "sensitive" range but it is creeping up there. I think 4 of greater is considered the "worry" point for ID docs, with MIC's of 4-8 being in the "intermediate" range (not sensitive, but not resistant either)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceftaroline_fosamil

Daptomycin is also used sometimes instead of Vancomycin. These drugs have only been around for a couple of years. They are mega-expensive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daptomycin

Not sure how long ago you lost your friend, but at least there are a couple of alternatives to Vancomycin available now. According to the article, Ceftaroline was available in Phase III Clinical trials starting in 2010. Not sure where it is now. We were sending out requests for testing for awhile, but now have the ability to test Ceftaroline in-house.