Superbugs

Discussion in 'Human Science' started by aaqucnaona, Feb 12, 2012.

  1. aaqucnaona This sentence is a lie Valued Senior Member

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    I was watching the "maternity" episode of "house" season one and house talks about these superbugs - extremely resistent pathogens created by over-prescription of powerful drugs and wide-spread exitence of 'anti-bacterial soaps in every washroom'. I know house isn't really the place to get your medical knowledge, but still the question is a real one. If a pathogen is not completely eradicated, we only only making it stronger - and worse for us. This can cause the disease caused by such pathogens to increase inseverity and less responsive to treatment while making the pathogens more resistent and harder to combat. The only solution would be even stronger drugs - how is this arms race kept under control. Most sugerbugs would fold under some sufficiently powerful drug, but what is some of them evolve into nigh untreatable super-epidemics? What steps are taken in this regard?
     
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  3. origin Heading towards oblivion Valued Senior Member

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    One thing is they are trying limit the over prescription of antibiotics.
     
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  5. wellwisher Banned Banned

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    I suppose you could come up with helpful bugs, whose job is to crowd out the superbugs so their evolution is slowed.

    The logic for superbug evolution are the anti-biotics kill scores of less harmful bugs. This makes more room for the superbugs to thrive. We could reintroduce helpful bugs until the superbugs are crowded out. The limiting of antibiotics can help the retro transition.
     
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  7. Hercules Rockefeller Beatings will continue until morale improves. Moderator

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    No, it isn't.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  8. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    There are a few different alternitives being explored. One i herd about is more targeted drugs which mean bacteria are hit with a higher dose but not the whole body system another is chemicals which make the bacteria more suseptible to existing treatments and the last i herd about is honey which apears to have antibacterial properties compleatly different from conventional treatments and therefore dont apear to suffer ristance problems

    however at the moment our best defense is to reduce usage of antibotics to only whats actually nessary and use as narow spectrum as possible. One theory i herd about is that the resitance is actually coming from our gut flora which are constantly being exposed to the antibotics we are taking
     
  9. madanthonywayne Morning in America Registered Senior Member

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    I think antibiotics being given to perfectly healthy farm animals is an even greater problem:
    According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, as much as 70 percent of all antibiotics used in the United States is fed to healthy farm animals.

    When drug-resistant bacteria develop at industrial livestock facilities, they can reach the human population through food, the environment (i.e., water, soil, and air),8 or by direct contact with animals (i.e., farmers and farm workers).

    Industrial livestock operations produce an enormous amount of concentrated animal waste—over one billion tons annually—that is often laden with antibiotics, as well as antibiotic-resistant bacteria from the animals' intestines. It is estimated that as much as 80 to 90 percent of all antibiotics given to animals are not fully digested and eventually pass through the body and enter the environment,9 where they can encounter new bacteria and create additional resistant strains.10 With huge quantities of manure routinely sprayed onto fields surrounding CAFOs, antibiotic resistant bacteria can leech into surface and ground water, contaminating drinking wells and endangering the health of people living close to large livestock facilities.

    http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/antibiotics/

    http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agri...ial_agriculture/prescription-for-trouble.html
     
  10. nathalie17 Registered Member

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    Quite thing of the harmful bugs you mentioned.. hmmm????
     
  11. scheherazade Northern Horse Whisperer Valued Senior Member

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    Another avenue for consideration is our overuse of anti-bacterial products around the home which indiscriminately target all bacteria, not only the harmful ones.

    This short-sighted war on bacteria is irrational given that our very existence is dependent on the optimum functioning of many kinds of them.

    Attempts to sterilize our habitats seem to be having the opposite of the desired effect. There is an increasing number of persons who are suffering from allergies and auto-immune disorders.

    In my youth, allergies and auto-immune disorders were a rarity. Today, it seems that a majority of persons are contending with some 'condition' and this across all age groups.

    This is not just a personal perception or an opinion gleaned from net surfing. I have compared observations with a number of other persons, one benefit of living in a smaller 'control' population size and region.
     

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