Sludge Watch ==> Drug Resistant Staph Aureus 2% in 1973 , 63% in 2004

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

The EPA was told to do research on the role of sewage treatment plants and 
sludge spreading in promoting antibiotic resistant disease.  They have not 
done this research.  It is highly likely that by mixing our most virulent 
diseases from feces of infected patients in a light wash of antibiotics and 
antimicrobials in the stressful conditions of the wastewater treatment plant 
  we are breeding antibiotic resistant organisms in a most efficient 
wholesale fashion.

Then we spread those antibiotic resistant organisms on our food chain lands.

The whole wastewater industry is so committed to the sewage treatment plant 
and the recycling of that industrially contaminated sludge waste cheaply 
into the food chain that the regulators dare not investigate.

Government bureaucrats just don't want to know because they are not prepared 
to change current practices, even if we make ourselves critically ill from 
resistant diseases...and pay the price in increased health care costs, 
illness and deaths.  What does Toronto or Los Angeles care how many people 
get sick from their sludge?  That bill will be paid by others.


..............................................................................................


NOTE: To view the article with Web enhancements, go to:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/546363


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



CDC Urges Hospitals to Increase Infection Control Measures


Reuters Health Information 2006. © 2006 Reuters Ltd.
Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or 
similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of 
Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the 
content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the 
Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters 
group of companies around the world.



WASHINGTON (Reuters) Oct 20 - Hospitals need to step up efforts to prevent 
drug-resistant nosocomial infections, which are becoming more and more of a 
threat to patients, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 
on Thursday.

Every year, infections caught in U.S. hospitals kill 90,000 people and cost 
$4.5 billion, the CDC said. Facilities need to keep track of such infections 
and put into place regular programs to fight them, it said.

"Effective and comprehensive programs to prevent drug-resistant infections 
are essential to improve patient safety," said Dr. Denise Cardo, director of 
CDC's Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion.

"Preventing these types of infections requires a constant and concerted 
effort on the part of health-care facilities, but it's important they make 
this a priority," Cardo added in a statement.

The focus is on the rise in antibiotic-resistant infections. For instance, 
the CDC said, in 1972, only 2% of Staphylococcus aureus infections were 
drug-resistant but in 2004, 63% were.

The new CDC guidelines advise hospitals, nursing homes and long-term care 
facilities to track infection rates, ensure that their staff use standard 
infection control practices and follow guidelines regarding the correct use 
of antibiotics.

Simple hand-washing is still a problem in some facilities, the CDC has said. 
"The main mode of transmission to other patients is through human hands, 
especially health-care workers' hands," the CDC says in a statement on its 
Web site at http://www.cdc.gov.

"Prevention of drug-resistant infections requires a full complement of 
actions tailored to the local setting," said Dr. Patrick Brennan, chair of 
the CDC's Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------