Rainforest plant combats multi-resistant bacterial strains

[Ichingcarpenter]

Aggressive infections in hospitals are an increasing health problem worldwide. The development of bacterial resistance is alarming. Now a young Danish scientist has found a natural substance in a Chilean rainforest plant that effectively supports the effect of traditional treatment with antibiotics.



PhD Jes Gitz Holler from the University of Copenhagen discovered in a research project a compound that targets a particular resistance mechanism in yellow staphylococci. The development of resistance in these specific bacteria is extremely rapid. Bacterial strains that do not respond to treatment have already been found in the USA and Greece.

"I have discovered a natural substance in a Chilean avocado plant that is active in combination treatment with traditional antibiotics. Resistant bacteria have an efflux pump in their bacterial membrane that efficiently pumps out antibiotics as soon as they have gained access. I have identified a natural substance that inhibits the pumping action, so that the bacteria's defence mechanisms are broken down and the antibiotic treatment allowed to work," explains Jes Gitz Holler.


Jes Gitz Holler gathered specimens of the plant, which comes from the Persea family, in Chile, where the Mapuche people use the leaves of the avocado plant to heal wounds. The results have been published in Journal of Microbial Chemotherapy.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-rainforest-combats-multi-resistant-bacterial-strains.html


Open hospital windows to stem spread of infections, says microbiologist

Hospitals might thwart the spread of dangerous infections by taking a tip from Florence Nightingale and throwing open their windows. But while the Victorian nurse championed fresh air and cleanliness as a defence against infections, the incoming air might help control nasty pathogens by letting more microbes inside.

Jack Gilbert, a microbiologist at the US government's Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, offers the unconventional view that unwanted microbes might gain a foothold in hospitals because they had too little competition from other organisms.

The idea mirrors that seen in the gut, where antibiotics can kill off the balanced and healthy community of bacteria, only to make way for hardier bugs that cause illness.

"When surgery first started 300 years ago, you would have people walking around with blood and pus all over their outfits. In that situation it makes a lot of sense to make the system very clean," Gilbert said at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Vancouver.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/20/open-hospital-windows-stem-infections






Florence Nightingale forced the windows open at the hospitals she worked at during the Crimean War.

[DCKit]

1. The Canadians did a study a few years back using Ozone to disenfect the empty rooms...

of several hospitals. They cut the transmission rates of resistant Staph, Strep and MRSA to 0%.

The American response was two pronged:

"It Won't Work Here."
and
"The EPA considers Ozone dangerous."

Even in the case of an accident, I would rather have a bit of sinus, lung and airway irritation than a raging case of MRSA, but that's just me.