Disinfectants Cause Some Bacteria to Adapt, Thrive

[n2doc]

By LiveScience Staff
posted: 28 December 2009 09:37 am ET

To keep sickness at bay, many of us constantly wash hands and disinfect surfaces. But a new lab study shows one pesky bacterium eats cleansers for breakfast: When disinfectant was applied to lab cultures of the bacteria, they adapted to survive not only the disinfectant but also a common antibiotic.

The research team focused on Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium responsible for a range of infections in people with weakened immune systems. When the scientists added increasing amounts of disinfectant to P. aeruginosa cultures, the bacteria adapted to survive not only the disinfectant but also the antibiotic called ciprofloxacin.

Here's how: The bacteria were able to more efficiently pump out antimicrobial agents. The adapted bacteria also had a genetic mutation that allowed them to resist ciprofloxacin-type antibiotics specifically.

"In principle this means that residue from incorrectly diluted disinfectants left on hospital surfaces could promote the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria," said lead researcher Gerard Fleming of the National University of Ireland in Galway. "What is more worrying is that bacteria seem to be able to adapt to resist antibiotics without even being exposed to them."

The results, published in the January issue of the journal Microbiology, show just how savvy some bugs are, adding to research on superbugs — drug-resistant microbes that modern medicine struggles to combat.

more:

http://www.livescience.com/health/091228-disinfectant-superbug-bacteria.html

[tblue]

1. Buggy things creep me out!

My son had Mythbusters (tv show) on last night. They did experiments to see which household items had more germs: toilet seat, cell phone, dollar bill, lightswitch, kitchen sponge. Egad, it was gross! The winner and worst offender: the kitchen sponge! Oy gevalt. Gag me with a machete!

That, and now this article you posted, plus I have 33 million ants taking over my kitchen = I am majorly freaked out!

I wonder what the disinfectant it was the hospitals used....???

[DCKit]

3. Put damp sponges in the microwave (15 seconds does it for me) and they'll be fresh as new. n/t

[tblue]

6. I do it for a minute and a half OR I put them in the dishwasher.

Thank you, though. More people need to know they're wiping germies all over their kitchen surfaces....eeeeeeeewww!

[izquierdista]

2. Two syllables

Clo-rox. Let's see it resist that.

[Walk away]

4. I don't use sponges, just plastic scrunchies I can throw in the dishwasher..

and Clorox rocks!!! People are always telling me it's dangerous but if you dilute it and then let it air dry it cleans and disinfects great. And it's cheap and comes in several new aromas!

[tblue]

7. How do you keep it from splashing on your clothes, tho? nt

[Jamastiene]

11. Either buy the Clorox wipes or buy it in spray form.

You can mix some in a spray bottle with plain water, but I would not recommend mixing Clorox with anything else.

Water is the only thing you can safely mix Clorox with. If you mix Clorox with just about anything else, especially ammonia, it'll kill you by ripping you and your cells apart, literally. If you add more ammonia than bleach, chlorine gas will form. Chlorine gas rips apart all your cells in your respiratory system, literally. It causes a very painful death. If you add more bleach than ammonia, Nitrogen Trichloride will form and explode in your face. That causes a fast painful death, if you are lucky, and a painful explosion in your face and being maimed for life if you are not lucky. Neither scenario looks like fun.

So, it is best to just buy the spray form (already made) or the Clorox wipes.

[Walk away]

13. I admit to being an all-black-wearing ex-New Yorker covered in white splashes.

But bad germs run when they see me coming!

[AnOhioan]

5. All the more reason to resist the marketing about...

disinfectants and anti-bacterial soaps. Those products just help foster hardier germs, plain old soap and water is just fine.

[TheMadMonk]

8. I work on the principle, bite me and something dies.

So far I'm winning.

[Sintosol]

9. Hospitals are actually adapting too

Many hospitals are installing some material created by Sharklet Technologies which uses artificial shark skin to keep bacteria at bay. bacteria have not figured out how to adapt to real shark skin for as long as sharks lived (hundreds of millions of years) and so it makes this a valuable, non toxic solution to reduce infections with applications almost everywhere. Here's a link from the university of Florida (its a cached site from Google cause they moved onto something else without archiving).

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:XbcIYngZkYgJ:www.research.ufl.edu/publications/explore/current/story_1/index.html+sharkskin+disinfectant+hospitals&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

[TacticalPeek]

10. Thanks - that's interesting. And more the way to go.

Welcome to DU.

:toast:

[Sintosol]

12. Thanks

I've been a lurker for years and I guess I felt I had something to contribute.

:toast: