Sludge Watch ==> Importance of hospital sewage in spread of antibiotic resistance contamination

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

People are dying in North America from antibiotic resistant infections at a 
staggering rate.  More people die from these infections that all the deaths 
from automobile accidents and breast cancer, and AIDS combined.

see:
http://www.fivestarproductions.com/todayshealth/featured_stories.asp?SEGMENTNUMBER=3374

But the people in hospital dying from these deadly infections are excreting 
these resistent pathogens into sewage' sewage effluents, and sewage 
sludge....These hospital based diseases are spreading antibiotic resistance 
onto the food chain and into the creeks, rivers, lakes, and ocean.

This study "highlights the importance of hospital sewage in the VRE 
contamination of the environment".  In the USA the National Academy of 
Sciences told the EPA to study the role of spreading sludge in creating and 
spreading antibiotic resistance.

The EPA has done NOTHING.

I have attached the full scientific journal report for those who want to 
know more.
or read it free online at: aem.asm.org/cgi/reprint/71/6/3364.pdf

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Here are two abstracts.  Full report for the first one is attached.

Environmental contamination with vancomycin-resistant enterococci from 
hospital sewage in Portugal.
Novais C,
Coque TM,
Ferreira H,
Sousa JC,
Peixe L.
REQUIMTE Laboratorio de Microbiologia, Faculdade de Farmacia, Universidade 
do Porto, Portugal.

Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) were detected in samples of sewage 
obtained downstream of hospitals of the Porto area in Portugal, and in 
samples from the Douro Estuary. Clonal analysis, Tn1546 typing, and presence 
of putative virulence traits indicate the clinical origin of these isolates. 
This observation highlights the importance of hospital sewage in the VRE 
contamination of the environment.

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and...

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2002, p. 2838-2842, Vol. 68, 
No. 6
0099-2240/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.68.6.2838-2842.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

High Prevalence of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci in Swedish Sewage
Aina Iversen,1* Inger Kühn,1 Anders Franklin,2 and Roland Möllby1
Microbiology and Tumor Biology Center, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 77 
Stockholm,1 Department of Antibiotics, National Veterinary Institute, SE-751 
89 Uppsala, Sweden2

Received 26 November 2001/ Accepted 8 March 2002

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