Snooping Scientists Find DNA In Hospital Pipes That FUEL SUPERBUGS

The pipes of hospitals carrying away the infections of the sick are bound to be quite disturbing places. But scientists dared to snoop around in them anyway and found that they can fuel superbugs.

In a new study, published by The American Society for Microbiology, scientists determined that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are bred in the plumbing of hospitals. The study, titled Genomic Analysis of Hospital Plumbing Reveals Diverse Reservoir of Bacterial Plasmids Conferring Carbapenem Resistance found that even when hospitals themselves are impeccably clean of infectious bacteria and viruses, the pipes that carry away those micro-organisms are not.

Even when the sinks, faucets, bedrails and countertops of patients’ rooms are largely free of germs that resist modern medicines, the genetic building blocks for antibiotic resistance intermingle freely in the pipes connected to those rooms, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal mBio. That DNA can give superbugs the power to defeat modern medicines and threaten the lives of patients. –LA Times

The DNA scientists were able to swab from the inside of the pipes showed that these little organisms have the power to become vast medicine-resistant superbugs that could wipe out a lot of people. The study began back in 2012 after a severely ill woman carried a bacterial infection into a New York health care center.

In 2012, a team of sleuths at the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Care Center broke new ground in the effort to rout a deadly antibiotic-resistant infection that sickened at least 17 patients — and killed six — during the summer of 2011. Using whole-genome sequencing for the first time in such an investigation, the team identified the culprit: a super-potent strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria carried into the center by a seriously ill woman from New York.

The microbe, they discovered, was probably traveling between rooms after lodging in sinks and drains. Some were ripped out and others were sanitized in an extensive eradication effort.  –LA Times

The study itself came to the following conclusion:

Carbapenemase-producing organisms (CPOs) are a global concern because of the morbidity and mortality associated with these resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Horizontal plasmid transfer spreads the resistance mechanism to new bacteria, and understanding the plasmid ecology of the hospital environment can assist in the design of control strategies to prevent nosocomial infections. A 5-year genomic and epidemiological survey was undertaken to study the CPOs in the patient-accessible environment, as well as in the plumbing system removed from the patient. This comprehensive survey revealed a vast, unappreciated reservoir of CPOs in wastewater, which was in contrast to the low positivity rate in both the patient population and the patient-accessible environment. While there were few patient-environmental isolate associations, there were plasmid backbones common to both populations. These results are relevant to all hospitals for which CPO colonization may not yet be defined through extensive surveillance.-American Society for Microbiology

During the study, all of the samples drawn from the piping system leading from the ICU tested positive for bacterial plasmids that confer resistance to carbapenems. And so did all seven samples drawn from wastewater samples taken from two external manholes associated with the NIH Clinical Center.

This means that hospital pipes can be the breeding grounds for the next superbug, and once infected, could eliminate up to 50% of those who become infected with the superbug.

Madagascar Plague Outbreak Has Already Killed 57 And Infected Over 600

An outbreak of the plague in Madagascar is spreading at an unprecedented rate.  With the ease of spreading the plague, the likelihood that this disease will move to other more densely populated regions of the planet has become a huge concern for many.

So far, the plague has claimed 57 lives and infected more than 680 others. These figures are from October 12, however, and the disease is spreading rapidly.  An estimated 329 of these cases and 25 of the deaths were in the capital city of Antananarivo.  Of the 684 cases reported as of October 12, 474 were the pneumonic plague, 156 bubonic and 1 septicemic plague. A further 54 were unspecified, according to the World Health Organization. Of Madagascar’s 114 districts, 35 have reported cases of plague, including at least 10 cities.

Plague is caused by infection with the bacterium Yersinia pestis and is typically spread through the bite of infected fleas, frequently carried by rats. The bacteria will eventually end up causing the often fatal plague. Symptoms can include painful, swollen lymph nodes, called buboes, as well as fever, chills, and coughing. Pneumonic plague is more virulent or damaging and is an advanced form of the disease characterized by a severe lung infection. The infection can be transmitted from person to person via airborne droplets from coughing or sneezing. The incubation period is extremely short too, and an infected person may die within 12 to 24 hours of contracting the bacteria making cures in underdeveloped regions of the globe difficult at best.

According to CNN, the cases were reported by both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Bureau for Risk and Disaster Management (BNGRC) in Madagascar.  They include probable and suspected cases as well those that have been confirmed by laboratory tests. And while the country experiences regular outbreaks, with an estimated 400 cases of plague each year, this time things are very different, experts warn.

This year, health officials report the infections started much earlier than usual, and they’re occurring in new areas, including urban settings. They’ve also seen an unexpected number of cases of pneumonic plague, which transmits more easily from person to person.  Historically dubbed the “black death” the bubonic plague has been responsible for several worldwide pandemics in the past.

Early detection of the plague is key since both forms of it can be cured with antibiotics.  But, occasionally there can be cases of septicemic plague, where the infection has spread to a person’s bloodstream and can cause bleeding and necrosis of tissue, turning it black.

The government of Madagascar has mobilized resources to spray schools and other public places to fight fleas and rodents and curb the spread of the infection. People have also been lining up at pharmacies in the capital while wearing face masks to get medications or protection. To further reduce the spread of the disease, public schools are closed and the government has forbidden public gatherings, according to the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC).

Internationally, this outbreak is also being taken seriously.  WHO delivered more than 1.2 million doses of antibiotics and released $1.5 million in emergency funds earlier this month. The Red Cross has released more than $1 million to deploy a treatment center and has mobilized more than 1,000 volunteers and is upgrading their skills on community surveillance, finding and monitoring people who have been in contact with infected patients and insightful messaging to stop the spread of this disease.

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Author: Mac Slavo
Views: Read by 0 people
Date: October 17th, 2017
Website: www.SHTFplan.com

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The Problem of Antibiotic Resistance is Getting Much Worse

Scientists have detected a disturbing form of antibiotic-resistance on U.S. farms in recent months, but it’s not the type they anticipated, and they don’t know how it wound up there.

Researchers say that they’ve discovered resistance to a class of antibiotics called carbapenems, a last-line of defensive drugs used to treat severe infections. These antibiotics are not intended for agricultural use because they are so vital to human health. In fact, they’re so potent and so valuable that they are usually reserved for patients exhibiting resistance to multiple antibiotics. [1] [2]

The bacteria had been identified among European and Asian livestock, but there was no sign of the problem in the U.S. until now. [3]

The Unsettling Discovery

Thomas Wittum, chair of veterinary preventive medicine at Ohio State University, and a team of colleagues went to a pig farm where they swabbed floors and walls over a 5-month period, collecting environmental and fecal samples. They discovered the presence of a specific carbapenem-resistant gene called blaIMP-27 growing in their petri dishes. [3]

Wittum explains that carbapenem antibiotics are illegal for farm use; even if they weren’t, they’d be too expensive anyway.

“How the [resistant bacteria] got onto the farm we really don’t know. But probably it was introduced from the outside from movements of wildlife, people, equipment, etc.” [1]

He says it’s possible that other legal antibiotics used on the farm could be helping the bacteria to grow and spread, but more research is necessary.

None of the bacteria was detected in any of the pigs, but Wittum says he and the study’s co-authors have detected it in both sows and piglets.

“We found no evidence that these organisms were entering the food supply, but that is the concern: that it could happen on this or other farms,” he says. “We need more research to really understand that risk.”

He goes on to say:

“For now, we think that this is a rare and unusual occurrence. We hope that we have caught it early enough to stop it from spreading.

[But] the risk to the public is that these are food animals that will someday enter the food supply as fresh pork products.

While we didn’t find any evidence that that has occurred on this particular farm, it is a potential concern. We want to be sure that multidrug-resistant bacteria like these are never present in food, and one way to do that is to be sure that they are not introduced onto our farms.” [3]

Source: CDC. Click for larger version.

In the spring, British Chancellor George Osborne warned that antibiotic resistance could kill up to 10 million people a year by 2050, making it a bigger threat than cancer. That’s 1 person every 3 seconds.

Wittum says that this particular strain of antimicrobial resistance “may be related to antibiotics used to treat sick pigs, for the same reason that resistant bacteria like these are present in human hospitals because of the way we treat sick people with antibiotics.”

In other words, they’ve been overused.

He adds:

“We can’t just stop treating the sick pigs with antibiotics because of the negative impact that would have on animal welfare. But it might be possible for the farm to use antibiotics in different ways to stop the spread of this particular strain.”

But treating them and preventing them from becoming sick are 2 different things. Dr. David Wallinga of the Natural Resources Defense Council says the discovery may mean we’ve passed the point of no return.

Read: 84-Page Report Outlines 9 Ways to Beat Antibiotic Resistance

“The last terrible shoe may have just dropped when it comes to drug-resistant infections. This is just one more warning that doctors may soon have nothing left in their toolkit to save patients when these bugs strike.

Our overuse of antibiotics in livestock is creating reservoirs for the spread of resistance – and this study strongly suggests resistance to carbapenems is no exception. To save our miracle drugs, we have got to stop wasting them on animals that aren’t sick.” [2]

Sources:

[1] Time

[2] Consumerist

[3] HealthDay

CDC

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.