Sludge Watch ==> New Virulent Staph Aureus strain brings PLV toxin Pneumonia

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

With the development of ever more toxic pathogens we need to stop spreading 
sewage treatment plant pathogens into the environment.  The fact is that 
hospital pathogens ... mixed in a wash of antibiotics that help confer 
antibiotic resistance....are released through sludge spreading onto our food 
chain lands.

This is very dangerous.  Why has the EPA refused to do the research on 
sludge pathogens that the National Academy of Science told them they needed 
to undertake?  Could it be that if they did the research then sludge 
spreading would have to stop. Sludgers and sludge plants would be held 
liable for  illnesses and deaths?

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

Scientific American

Staph bug causes new pneumonia
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor....Thu Jan 18, 2007

A nasty staph germ circulating in and out of hospitals produces a poison 
that can kill pneumonia patients within 72 hours, researchers said on 
Thursday.

Staphylococcus aureus bacteria -- or S. aureus -- can pass one another the 
gene for the toxin and are apparently swapping it more often, the 
researchers report in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

The toxin, called Panton Valentine leukocidin or PVL, can itself cause 
pneumonia and can kill healthy tissue.

Luckily, people infected with the bacteria quickly develop a high fever and 
astute doctors can identify it, said Gabriela Bowden of the Texas A&M Health 
Science Center in Houston, who led the study.

"This is a scary situation. We are trying to put the word out and to educate 
people about it," Bowden said in a telephone interview.

S. aureus is the most common cause of hospital-acquired infections, and can 
cause inflammation of the heart, toxic-shock syndrome and meningitis.

A new strain called MRSA resists the antibiotic methicillin, but it can be 
treated with antibiotics like doxycycline and vancomycin.

An outbreak of methicillin-resistant S. aureus carrying the new toxin killed 
two patients in a British hospital in December with a new type of pneumonia 
called necrotizing pneumonia. This infection destroys lung tissue and also 
kills some of the immune system cells sent to battle it.

Dr. Marina Morgan, consultant medical microbiologist at Exeter Nuffield 
Hospital in Britain, said the PVL toxin "turbo-charges" an already dangerous 
bacteria.

"PVL is strong enough on its own to destroy the lungs," she said in a 
statement.

And the toxin is immune to antibiotics.

"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," Morgan said.

S. aureus, which commonly live on the skin and cause pimples, boils and 
other minor infections, can cause a serious wound if the toxin-producing 
strains get into a cut.

WASH THOSE HANDS

Old-fashioned hygiene is the best line of defense, Bowden said.

"This is a community-associated strain, which means that in schools, the 
kids can carry it. Anybody can be colonized with it," she said.

"I tell my kids if you scrape your knee, go to the bathroom immediately and 
wash it with soap." Hospitals must impose strict hygiene to control it.

Bowden's team tested the PVL-producing Staph on mice and found that two days 
after infection, their lungs were filled with immune cells and lung tissue 
was starting to bleed and die.

A stretch of DNA known as a cassette carries the code for the PVL toxin. 
Such a little segment is easily passed from one strain of bacteria to 
another, said Bowden, and viruses called bacteriophages can also carry them.

Understanding how this happens could provide a way to develop new drugs or 
vaccines and shed light on how bacteria acquire new and dangerous qualities.

"The appearance of PVL toxin in severe Staphylococcal pneumonia is a recent 
phenomenon. Previously the toxin was only found in less than 5 percent of 
strains," said Dr. Ronald Cutler of the University of East London.

Some companies are working on staph vaccines but none is on the market.


http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=68E0937D0F20F63D46F066CB42C048A0