Overuse of antibiotics lead to this

[46zilzal]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/10/16/mrsa.cdc.ap/index.html

MRSA has been exploding in the hospital setting for years now.

QUOTE:"The bacteria don't respond to penicillin-related antibiotics once commonly used to treat them, partly because of overuse. They can be treated with other drugs but health officials worry that their overuse could cause the germ to become resistant to those, too."

[jognlope]

Tell me about it I type infectious disease reports. Love those bacteria names. Lots of MRSA this and that going on in the hospitals. I haven't had an antibiotic in 6 years. I have 5 cats wtih herpesvirus symtpoms and the one little kitten I took to vet and got treated with antibiotic is the worst! It came back worse than before. Now I'm using my own saline solution for their eyes. Oh yeah, they all have conjunciitis!! Fun, fun fun with cats. I go to bed at night with the sounds of sneezes from all of them. Well I hope with age they're become immune. I'm off the subject a little...

[46zilzal]

Antibiotics don't work on viruses, never have. Many of my colleagues seem to have forgotten that lesson from pharmacology.

[jognlope]

No they dont'. But this particular med had clavulonic acid with amox and the vet said it gets rid of the virus, but I wonder.

[46zilzal]

Nope. from wikipedia: Specifically, it is used to overcome resistance in bacteria that secrete beta-lactamase enzymes, which otherwise inactivate most penicillins. Most commonly, the potassium salt potassium clavulanate is combined with amoxicillin (co-amoxiclav [brand name Augmentin] or the veterinary formulation Synulox from Pfizer) or ticarcillin.

The name is derived from the Streptomyces clavuligerus microorganisms from which clavulanic acid is derived. Clavulanic acid is biosynthetically generated from the amino acid arginine and the sugar glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate.

VIRUSES are inter-cellular, not extra-cellular like bacteria. To get at them one would have to open the cells killing them in the process. So far nothing has shown much long term action against viruses other than vaccination before infection.

[jognlope]

that vet is too much, told me it contained grapefruit seeds or something. I'm letting the kitties use their own immune systems from now on!

[jognlope]

I'll be sure to ask my doc about it so he can answer his favorite answer "I don't know."

[jognlope]

Funny -- NBC said MSRA "methicillin staph resistant aureus." :lol:

[witchdoctor]

MRSA is becoming a problem even in locker rooms. It comes from doctors that can't say "I don't know" and prescribe an antobiotic to get the patient out of the office.

46Z

I am even more afraid of TB. In Mexico, you can get over the counter INH to treat your cough. When I was in San Antonio, we saw alot of TB and almost all of it was resistnt to INH.

[46zilzal]

46Z

I am even more afraid of TB. In Mexico, you can get over the counter INH to treat your cough. When I was in San Antonio, we saw a lot of TB and almost all of it was resistant to INH.
Yes, I had an consult last year and had to gown and double mask to examine a woman who had come in from rural Russia with milliary TB. Scarey stuff.

[kenwoodallpromos]

"Good hygiene is your best defense against MRSA. Wash your hands often, especially after being in contact with other people. Help the efforts to prevent antibiotic resistant ...

www.mrsaresources.com"

[Hosshead]

I have a friend who (a few months ago) had a slight split of the skin at the cuticle. (probably from biting her nails)
Her finger started feeling sore, and in a couple of days it was her hand, and then her arm. VERY PAINFUL. Very quickly spreading.

She went to the local urgent care center where they gave her some antibiotics and took a culture.
A couple of days later she got an urgent call from a doctor who said she had MRSA and to stop taking the antiboitics immediately. They changed the prescription to something else (stronger antibiotic) which she took all of, and she got better. The infection is gone.
This doctor had stressed that the nose is the place that is highly populated with this germ.

So fast forward a few months later. The woman goes to her regular doctor (not the one who worked on her case) for her annual checkup , and asks, "Do I still have the MRSA germs in my body?"
Her doctor says " No, now that you've had it, you are now immune to it" !

Anybody know if this is true ?
Is it like the measles or something?

[Tom]

I've heard you have to have to be innoculated before you go to NASCAR! :eek:

[witchdoctor]

You don't become immune MRSA. You may well be a carrier. At our hospital, if you ever had MRSA, you are placed in isolation.

For what it is worth, MRSA is becoming more prevalent according to JAMA.

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/298/15/1763

[46zilzal]

"They changed the prescription to something else (stronger antibiotic) which she took all of, and she got better. The infection is gone."

Probably got the culture back and found that the original one did not work and changed based upon sensitivity.

[46zilzal]

When a doctor sees redness, swelling, increased temperature (locally and/or systemically) and pain it is usually indicative of infection although severe inflammation has these signs minus the systemic fever. Usually, but not always, the symptom complex (tissues involved, signs, timing, physician's experience) tells them of the presumptive evidence of what the organism(s) is/are and the appropriate meds are given. Sometimes when there is a question, the possibility of a mixed (gram positive and gram negative) etc., a small sample of the exudate from the margin of the wound is taken and sent to the lab for a culture and sensitivity. This is assuming one has access to the area of infection (deep tissue wounds wouldn't allow this). The lab cultures the sample in several agar plates and incubates them after placing small disks containing various antibiotics around the surface of the culture dish. After 24 and 48 hours usually, one can call them to see how much inhibition of growth has taken place next to which of these disks to give them an idea if the antibiotic chosen based upon the presumptive evidence is backed up by the absolute evidence from the lab culture. If the original antibiotic shows little evidence of inhibiting growth, the doctor has to change to one that the lab has found effective. Also, the lab can identify the organism(s).

At this same time, it is usually frugal to take a blood sample from the patient to see if there is any shift in the white cell count and differential. White cells are mobilized in systemic infection and the relative percentages of them change indicative of an infection.

[so.cal.fan]

People overuse antibiotics.
I have a friend who is an RN, for over 30 years. She habitually misuses antibiotics. She is in hospital facilities at least 3 days a week, seeing patient.
If she ever gets this superbug.....I fear she won't make it.
My husband's doctor will not give an RX for antibiotics if he can help it.
Most of people's complaints are virus.......he told my husband that older people die every week from pnemonia because they are resistant to antibiotics from overuse.
Question for Doc 46zil........Are some people immune to it? During the middle ages plague, there was a small % of population that was immune. Wondered if this could be as well?

[46zilzal]

Question for Doc 46zil........Are some people immune to it? During the middle ages plague, there was a small % of population that was immune. Wondered if this could be as well?
In any infection there are a certain percentage who either have a mild case or no symptoms at all due to some genetic variation which makes them less prone to the bugs.
Same occurred in the pandemic of 1918, and even the poliomyelitis outbreaks of the 1950's BOTH of these being viral, not bacterial.

Antibiotics just hasten the body's natural defense mechanisms by removing the infective burden. Ultimately it is the white blood cells that carry out destruction of the bugs. When the total number and distribution of the offending organisms are lowered by the selective toxicity of the antibiotic, there are fewer for the natural defense mechanisms to overcome.

Before antibiotics, most infections were dealt with by maneuvers to increase the blood flow to an area: stay in bed, warm compresses to the area, lots of fluids.

http://edition.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/06/01/antibiotic.overuse/index.html

[jognlope]

The only time I have to take an antibiotic is asthmatic bronchitis. That angioedema was not fun, my throat just closed up. I should stay steroids not antibiotics is what did it, Solu-MEdrol drip overnight after being laryngoscoped in the ER. I was such a baby, made them call someone to make arrangements to rescue my parrot, thought I was going to die. The doctor was very stern with me, they don't like babies.