Sludge Watch ==> antibiotic resistant bacteria now pandemic

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Antibiotic resistant bacteria are now causing a pandemic in communities 
around North America.  Previously seen mostly in hospitals MRSA 
(methicillin-resistant Staph Aureus) is now being acquired in communities 
(CA-MRSA).

The antibiotic resistant genes can be passed from bacteria to bacteria at 
the sewage treatment plant treatment processes.  So the use of sludge or 
sewage effluent in the environment may be playing a huge role in spreading 
these resistent bacteria...and the genes responsible for confering 
resistance.

The terrible deaths of young people near sewage sites seems to be related to 
these kind of resistant and fast moving infections.



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Staph bacteria cause deadly pneumonia
Last Updated: Thursday, January 18, 2007 | 6:27 PM ET
CBC News
Bacteria found in and out of U.S. hospitals produce a toxin that can kill 
pneumonia patients within 72 hours, researchers have found.

Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, or S. aureus, seem to be trading the gene 
for the toxin more often, Gabriela Bowden of the Texas A&M Health Science 
Center in Houston and her colleagues said in Thursday's online issue of the 
journal Science.

"If the community-acquired strain establishes itself in the hospital 
setting, it will be difficult to contain," Bowden said.

The community-associated strain of methicillin-resistant Staph, or CA-MRSA, 
produces a toxin called Panton Valentine leukocidin, or PVL.

Normally, staph are found in the nose or on the skin of about 25 to 30 per 
cent of people. They cause minor skin infections such as pimples and boils, 
as well as diseases such as meningitis, toxic shock syndrome and pneumonia.

In the study, researchers used mice to study the toxin produced by bacteria 
from current outbreaks of CA-MRSA and necrotizing pneumonia.

Continue Article

CA-MRSA causes serious skin and soft tissue infections in healthy persons 
who have not been recently hospitalized.

Necrotizing pneumonia destroys healthy lung tissue and can be fatal within 
72 hours. Bacteria producing the PVL toxin also attack infection-fighting 
white blood cells, the researchers said. The necrotizing type killed two 
people in a British hospital in December.

"PVL is strong enough on its own to destroy the lungs," Dr. Marina Morgan, 
consultant medical microbiologist at Exeter Nuffield Hospital in Britain, 
said in a statement.

"The reason most patients die is that despite killing the bug, PVL toxins 
already formed continue to digest lung tissue, so we desperately need some 
way of removing the toxins."

People infected with the toxin-producing strain quickly develop a high fever 
that doctors should look out for, Bowden said. Handwashing is the best line 
of defence.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/01/18/staph-superbug.html