The last drug has fallen. by 1kiki

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

The last drug has fallen.

POSTED BY: 1KIKI
UPDATED: Sunday, December 11, 2016 03:12
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Friday, November 20, 2015 11:02 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

The world is on the cusp of a "post-antibiotic era", scientists have warned after finding bacteria resistant to the drug of last resort - colistin - in patients and livestock in China. It is likely resistance emerged after colistin was overused in farm animals.

The report in the Lancet Infectious Diseases showed resistance in a fifth of animals tested, 15% of raw meat samples and in 16 patients.

The mutation has arisen in a way (as a plasmid) that is very easily shared between bacteria. "The transfer rate of this resistance gene is ridiculously high …" said Prof Mark Wilcox. And the resistance had spread between a range of bacterial strains and species, including E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Prof Timothy Walsh told the BBC “… when not if … the gene aligns itself with other antibiotic resistance genes, which is inevitable, then we will have very likely reached the start of the post-antibiotic era. "At that point if a patient is seriously ill, say with E. coli, then there is virtually nothing you can do."

There is also evidence that it has spread to Laos and Malaysia.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-34857015

Antibiotic resistance: World on cusp of 'post-antibiotic era'

By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website

The world is on the cusp of a "post-antibiotic era", scientists have warned after finding bacteria resistant to drugs used when all other treatments have failed. They identified bacteria able to shrug off the drug of last resort - colistin - in patients and livestock in China. They said that resistance would spread around the world and raised the spectre of untreatable infections. It is likely resistance emerged after colistin was overused in farm animals.

Bacteria becoming completely resistant to treatment - also known as the antibiotic apocalypse - could plunge medicine back into the dark ages. Common infections would kill once again, while surgery and cancer therapies, which are reliant on antibiotics, would be under threat.

Key players

Chinese scientists identified a new mutation, dubbed the MCR-1 gene, that prevented colistin from killing bacteria. The report in the Lancet Infectious Diseases showed resistance in a fifth of animals tested, 15% of raw meat samples and in 16 patients. And the resistance had spread between a range of bacterial strains and species, including E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

There is also evidence that it has spread to Laos and Malaysia.

Prof Timothy Walsh, who collaborated on the study, from the University of Cardiff, told the BBC News website: "All the key players are now in place to make the post-antibiotic world a reality. "If MCR-1 becomes global, which is a case of when not if, and the gene aligns itself with other antibiotic resistance genes, which is inevitable, then we will have very likely reached the start of the post-antibiotic era. "At that point if a patient is seriously ill, say with E. coli, then there is virtually nothing you can do."

Resistance to colistin has emerged before. However, the crucial difference this time is the mutation has arisen in a way that is very easily shared between bacteria. "The transfer rate of this resistance gene is ridiculously high, that doesn't look good," said Prof Mark Wilcox, from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

His hospital is now dealing with multiple cases "where we're struggling to find an antibiotic" every month - an event he describes as being as "rare as hens' teeth" five years ago. He said there was no single event that would mark the start of the antibiotic apocalypse, but it was clear "we're losing the battle".

The concern is that the new resistance gene will hook up with others plaguing hospitals, leading to bacteria resistant to all treatment - what is known as pan-resistance. Prof Wilcox told the BBC News website: "Do I fear we'll get to an untreatable organism situation? Ultimately yes. "Whether that happens this year, or next year, or the year after, it's very hard to say."

Early indications suggest the Chinese government is moving swiftly to address the problem. Prof Walsh is meeting both the agricultural and health ministries this weekend to discuss whether colistin should be banned for agricultural use.

Prof Laura Piddock, from the campaign group Antibiotic Action, said the same antibiotics "should not be used in veterinary and human medicine". She told the BBC News website: "Hopefully the post-antibiotic era is not upon us yet. However, this is a wake-up call to the world." She argued the dawning of the post-antibiotic era "really depends on the infection, the patient and whether there are alternative treatment options available" as combinations of antibiotics may still be effective.

New drugs are in development, such as teixobactin, which might delay the apocalypse, but are not yet ready for medical use.

A commentary in the Lancet concluded the "implications [of this study] are enormous" and unless something significant changes, doctors would "face increasing numbers of patients for whom we will need to say, 'Sorry, there is nothing I can do to cure your infection.'"

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Saturday, November 21, 2015 10:33 PM

JAYNEZTOWN

I get a gut feeling we are getting closer to a zombie style economic apocalypse, there will be a new super-flu or black death or something one year....don't know when but I feel its due

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Monday, November 23, 2015 4:25 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Many of you may not remember this, but there's a theory that mitochondria (the powerhouses of all eukaryotic cells, including animals and plants) are actually bacteria that found a home inside other cells, nestled in, and took over doing the job of getting energy from food using oxygen. As such - intracellular bacteria - it makes sense that antibiotics would affect them.

And in fact, antibiotics have now been shown to harm mitochondria, even at very low levels. And with antibiotics - in this case tetracycline - in such high-volume agricultural use, they can be found in the environment at concentrations that have been shown to be harmful to plant and animal mitochondria. Starved for the full amount energy that mitochondria are no longer producing, plants and animals alike suffer the consequences.

Widely Used Antibiotics Affect Mitochondria

From plants to mice and human cells, tetracyclines lead to mitochondrial dysfunction in model organisms.

The results suggest that using this gene expression control system likely has broad confounding effects on experimental outcomes in molecular biology. And with tetracyclines accounting for 41 percent of all antibiotics sold for use on livestock in the United States in 2011, according to the US Food and Drug Administration, environmental accumulation of the drugs could have detrimental ecological outcomes.

“This is a straightforward and clear story,” said Cole Haynes, who studies mitochondrial dysfunction at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. “It’s a nice job by the authors showing that tetracyclines really have mitochondrial consequences [scientists] have not thought about seriously.”

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/42414/title/Wide
ly-Used-Antibiotics-Affect-Mitochondria/

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

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Tuesday, December 1, 2015 1:06 AM

WISHIMAY

So, you would have people die instead of taking them? I've taken anti-biotics and steroids AT LEAST 20 times, with the first time being a baby.

I would be dead, no doubt about it.

I tried homeopathics once for a sinus infection, and didn't breathe right for SIX MONTHS after.

I'm all for immune system boosters, if you have any ideas on those...

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Tuesday, December 1, 2015 1:49 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

I think people should use them judiciously - not for viral infections, not using powerful, broad-spectrum antibiotics first for minor infections, and not otc. I strenuously object to them being routinely put in animal feed to make animals grow faster, or keep them alive under harmful, stressful conditions (also true for bees where routine use of chloramphenicol happens in China, and aquaculture like shrimp) - ie to make more profit. And, in fact, by ton, most antibiotics are used in animal feed. It's a business decision by food producers that's counter to every reasonable scientific and medical recommendation.

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Saturday, December 5, 2015 6:23 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

http://www.biosciencetechnology.com/articles/2015/05/origin-complex-li
fe?et_cid=4559914&et_rid=366206770&type=headline

Origin of Complex Life

Complex life – from humans to hamsters--may have evolved suddenly from a rare event. After two billion years of simple bacterial and archaeal life reigning on earth, an archaea may have swallowed a bacterium, and become a new creature with enough energy to grow and diversity like never before: the eukaryote.

A new Nature study this week may have provided the strongest evidence yet of this in its description of a new archaeon – found near an arctic hydrothermal vent - with genetic properties of both archaea and eukarya.

read more at the link

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Monday, December 14, 2015 5:32 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28633-resistance-to-last-resort
-antibiotic-has-now-spread-across-globe/?

Resistance to last-resort antibiotic has now spread across globe

The last drug has fallen. Bacteria carrying a gene that allows them to resist polymyxins, the antibiotics of last resort for some kinds of infection, have been found in Denmark and China, prompting a global search for the gene.

The discovery means that gram-negative bacteria, which cause common gut, urinary and blood infections in humans, can now become “pan-resistant”, with genes that defeat all antibiotics now available. That will make some infections incurable, unless new kinds of antibiotics are brought to market soon.

Colistin, the most common polymyxin, is a last-resort treatment for infections with bacteria such as E. coli and Klebsiella that resist all other available antibiotics.

In November, Yi-Yun Liu at South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou and colleagues discovered a gene for resistance to colistin in infected livestock, meat and humans. The mcr-1 gene can pass easily between bacteria, and the researchers predicted it could soon go global.

In circulation

Unknown to them, it already had. After their announcement, Frank Aarestrup of the Danish Technical University in Lyngby immediately searched for the sequence in a Danish database of bacterial DNA sampled from people, animals and food. He found it in one person who had a blood infection earlier this year, and in five bacterial samples from poultry meat imported from Germany between 2012 and 2014.

The poultry could have been raised outside Germany, says Aarestrup – he doesn’t know its origin. But ominously, all the bacteria also carried genes conferring resistance to many other antibiotics, including penicillin and cephalosporins.

The genes found in Denmark and China are the same, says Aarestrup, suggesting mcr-1 has travelled, rather than arising independently in each place. It is thought to have emerged originally in farm animals fed colistin as an antibiotic growth promoter.

Livestock origin

The gene has not yet been found in North America, says Lance Price of George Washington University in Washington DC, but researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, are now checking genetic databases. One reason for its absence could be that North American livestock farmers use relatively little colistin – although that will not keep the gene from migrating among bacteria.

“We do not now know where in the world it originated,” Aarestrup cautions. His team is now trying to get some idea by collecting information and different strains via existing global and European Union research projects that compile genetic sequences from pathogens.

An origin in China seems most probable as antibiotics are widely fed to animals to promote growth. The bulk of the 12,000 tonnes of colistin fed to livestock yearly around the world is used in China, say Liu and colleagues, which would favour the evolution of mcr-1. Antibiotic growth promoters have been banned in Europe precisely because they promote drug-resistant bacteria. Denmark, ironically, was among the first to ban them.

Worldwide concern

The drugs are still heavily used, however, to treat infections common in crowded livestock barns, such as diarrhoea. In 2012, the World Health Organization called colistin critically important for human health, meaning its use in animals should be limited to avoid promoting resistance. Yet in 2013, the European Medicines Agency reported that polymyxins were the fifth most heavily used type of antibiotic in European livestock.

Colistin is used in both humans and animals in India, says Abdul Ghafur of the Apollo Hospital in Chennai. The country is another hotbed of antibiotic resistance because of weak controls on the drugs. “I have treated colistin-resistant infections,” Ghafur says, and researchers in India plan to test bacterial samples for the gene.

“If mcr-1 is present in India then that will be a disaster,” says Ghafur, who fears it will spread as fast as did genes for resistance to another antibiotic of last resort, carbapenem.

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Tuesday, December 15, 2015 3:01 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

"I'm all for immune system boosters, if you have any ideas on those..."

My recommendation is to stay away from hospitals unless you absolutely MUST go there for serious care. If you need surgery, and you can get outpatient or day-surgery, do that instead of inpatient. Check out their infection rates, since TO THIS DAY most germs are passed from patient to patient through caregivers who are lax about handwashing.

Ask your doctor or care provider to wash their hands before they touch you, ask that stethoscopes have removable covers, and ask if they disinfect their blood pressure equipment.

Also, wash your hands with SOAP, if possible. Use real soap, not skin cleanser, since soap is the only product I know of that works to kill most bacteria (not even the so-called anti-bacterial 'soap' works as well). Wash till you get through the tune 'twinkle twinkle little star'. Dry your hands with paper towels. But if all you have is some mysterious liquid in a dispenser, like at work or the store, wash anyway. Use a paper towel or tissue to turn the water off and open the exterior door.

Do not rinse you poultry before you cook it, that spreads germs all over your sink and wherever you touch and water aerosolizes. Bleach your cutting boards. Wash your hands with soap and dry them with paper towels.

These bacteria can colonize healthy people with good immune systems, hiding without causing symptoms until you become ill, or debilitated, or some point of entry is made or found, like a split cuticle or hair follicle. Some day - hopefully - they'll find a way to test people to see if they've been colonized with any of the many very nasty germs around, and have treatments ready like bacteriophages to clear them.

But until then, and as long as we keep continuing to do what we've been doing all along that created this problem, we're all at risk.

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Friday, December 18, 2015 12:10 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Wish

I just wanted to bump this up because I spent some time coming up with an answer (above) - which isn't exactly the one you were looking for but which I think might be helpful.

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Saturday, December 19, 2015 8:14 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Wish

I just wanted to bump this up because I spent some time coming up with an answer (above) - which isn't exactly the one you were looking for but which I think might be helpful.

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Sunday, December 20, 2015 1:55 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Not sure if WISH found it helpful, but I did!

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

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Sunday, December 20, 2015 6:19 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Also, fwiw, stay out of long-term care facilities - nursing homes, residential centers for the disabled etc - virtually everyone there will at some point be colonized by gram negative bacteria carrying the NDM-1 gene.

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Wednesday, December 7, 2016 12:05 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2016/12/gene-resistant-last-re
sort-antibiotic-found-us-agricultural-farm

Gene Resistant to ‘Last Resort’ Antibiotic Found at U.S. Agricultural Farm

Researchers have found a rare superbug gene on a U.S. pig farm, opening up the frightening possibility that this gene could make its way into our food supply in the future.

For the first time, Ohio State University researchers found bacteria that carry a transmissible carbapenem resistance gene on an agricultural farm. Carbapenems are one of the most important classes of antibiotics used in humans, and are considered the “last line of defense” against multi-drug resistant bacteria. Because of their importance to human health, carbapenems are not used in agriculture—which makes this discovery all the more surprising.

The blaIMP-27 gene was present in several different environmental samples, and also found in several species of bacteria. To make matters worse, the gene is carried by a plasmid, or small pieces of independent DNA that can move easily from one bacterium to another. The particular plasmid on which blaIMP-27 was found has one of the widest host ranges of any plasmid. (read more at the link)

How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Wednesday, December 7, 2016 12:38 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

YAY for you! (and so do I)

There's another reason to stick with soap and water (besides the fact that they work best on germs and grime) - hand sanitizers have been linked to heart failure. Who would have thought?

How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Wednesday, December 7, 2016 5:15 AM

JO753

rezident owtsidr

Solution: Be a hermit.

----------------------------
DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early

http://www.nooalf.com

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Wednesday, December 7, 2016 5:23 AM

REAVERFAN

And go vegan. The planet can't support your 99 cent burger habit.

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Thursday, December 8, 2016 12:08 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Quote:
Be a hermit. And go vegan.

Here's the thing - those nasty genes weren't found IN THE ANIMALS. They were found IN ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES. On a farm that never used that antibiotic. Indeed, NO farms use that antibiotic. It's reserved exclusively for humans.

What are you going to do to avoid those super-germs? Live where there's no dirt? Live in a bubble?

The genie is out of the bottle. It's not like we have a chance of, somehow, keeping it contained. It's already out there - spreading from one kind of germ to another kind of germ ... and so on. It's only a matter of time before it finds its way to us.

How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Thursday, December 8, 2016 1:55 AM

JO753

rezident owtsidr

Maybe its Gaia starting her elimination uv us. We will stop the next asteroid impact, then our job iz dun.

----------------------------
DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early

http://www.nooalf.com

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Thursday, December 8, 2016 12:37 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

People started looking at that because mitochondria - the energy producers for all our cells - are essentially bacteria that live inside every one of our cells. Anything that hurts bacteria could theoretically hurt the mitochondria.

It makes me think about all the things we buy because they were sold as being 'better', and we gullibly believed it.

Way back when, Nestle was hawking infant formula in India as better than mother's milk. It went so far as to provide free formula to hospitals, to give to babies who were born in a hospital. Their marketing led to many infant deaths, as mothers were reconstituting it with insanitary water, and were unable to buy it in sufficient quantities, among other unforeseen consequences. And of course we now know that mother's milk is best, and free. But at the time there was a level of disbelief in the west - how could anyone be so ignorant as to believe the ads from Nestle?

Well, we're them. Cars are better than walking. Plastic bottles are better than glass. Plastic bags are better than cloth. PCBs are better than petroleum jelly. And so on. Profits are better than anything. We've been insufficiently skeptical about the things that have been sold to us.

How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Sunday, December 11, 2016 3:12 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Why is this such a bad thing, I ask myself...

The "Puppet Masters" supposedly are pushing forward with Agenda 2030. Think the 10th season of X-Files cliffhanger, but I'm sure a much more subtle and non-blamable outcome.

If you believe the conspiracy theorists, the powers that be want to reduce the world population from 7 billion people to a much more easily manageable and sustainable 500 million people.

As much as a bleeding heart the part of me I don't show often is, the Pragmatist will always win. That's the benefits of being unmarried without children, and not really caring much if I live to see tomorrow.

The bottom line is that WE are the Bacteria. WE are the Virus. 7 Billion people today is projected to be 15 billion in 50 years if left unchecked.

Survival of the Fittest was thrown out the window when we discovered Penecillin. It's only gotten worse. Now our very laws protect the weak and punish the strong. Smart people wait to have kids and maybe don't procreate at all while stupid people spit them out like gumball machines.

Idocracy isn't just a movie made by the dude that created Beavis and Butthead. If you only watch part of the movie, watch the first 10 minutes.

I'm not going to BEG for an apocolypse to happen. I'm just saying that we're long overdue for one.

The fucking ARROGANCE of man to believe that we are killing our planet.

Balance is gone though, for sure...

Consider it a "Correction in the Market".

The "Human Bubble" is about to burst. Whether it's the lack of anti-biotics that work or something else is meaningless.

Either something like this happens, or we eventually find ourselves in all out nuclear war when we are all truly fighting for what's left of limited resources. "Mutually Assured Destruction" be damned.

Even in that situation, it's no joke that Cockroaches survive everything.

I think even some humans would, but I don't think it will come to that. There is a Plague coming. Chances are, it will be the least Racist, Sexist, Xenophobic thing you've ever witnessed in your life.

It will be terribly brutal and merciless, and assuming you or I actually survive it, the wake it will leave and the holes in our hearts and souls will be scars we carry with us forever.

It simply has to happen, otherwise we will ALL die.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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