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Bacteria rarely come as loners; more often they grow in crowds and
squat on surfaces where they form a community together. Bacteria
have a basic survival strategy: to colonize surfaces and grow as
bio-film communities embedded in a gel-like polysaccharide matrix.
Bio-films develop on any surface that bacteria can attach themselves
to any surface. Scientists have now identified one of the
fundamental mechanisms used by the bacteria in bio-films to protect
themselves against the attacking phagocytes.
The dilemma we face is that neither disinfectants and
antibiotics, nor phagocytes and our immune system can destroy these
bio-films.
According to the CDC, the number of C difficile infections
doubled between 1993 and 2003, with a sizeable increase coming after
the year 2000. The more virulent strain was first identified at the
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 2000, taking the lives of
18 patients. By 2004, the new aggressive C. diff strain had been
seen both in the United States and other nations of the world.
Studies showed it produces 20 times more toxin than the older
strains. Various suggestions to
prevent infections are offered to ease spread but we have no
hope of seeing a new treatment.
Billions of nasty microbes await
you every day
Dr Gerba has a serious message: Microbes matter. And they matter
more and more as the world shrinks. We import half of our food now,
a lot of which comes from developing countries with Third World
sanitation. We import 23 percent of our fresh fruit, 16 percent of
vegetables and 40 percent of tomatoes. Fifty percent of food-borne
outbreaks since 1974 involved produce.
The explosion in worldwide travel exposes us to organisms we've
never seen before. And new diseases keep emerging, such as bird flu,
SARS and others that make our aging population more vulnerable.
"A hundred years ago, many of us lived on farms and went to town
once a week," Gerba says. "Now we go to malls, health clubs,
football games. Our lifestyles have changed so much, we're sharing
more germs with more people than ever before."
Some Common Places Colonized with Bacteria
Office water-cooler handles: "Where does everybody go when
they have a cold or diarrhoea? The water cooler. Go there for
conversation, not to drink."
Office coffee cups: "Sixty percent have fecal bacteria on
them, and the higher you go in the management chain, the worse it
is."
Airplanes: "Oh, great places. All those people sharing
toilets in a short period. By the time the plane lands, a thin layer
of E. coli covers those little bathroom sinks."
Cell phones: "Talk about a germ-collection device. The
germs on your hand go onto the phone, and a lot of respiratory
viruses are put out when you talk, sneeze or cough. People are
talking dirty and don't realize it."
Women's purses: "Never touch the bottom of a woman's
purse. One-third have coliform bacteria in them."
Grocery carts: "Let's see. Baby's wearing a diaper, and
mom puts the baby in the seat facing her, and the next person comes
along and puts broccoli there. Fifty percent of grocery carts have
faecal bacteria on them."
Kitchen sponges: "Great places for microbes to live: nice
and moist, bacteria cafeterias, soaking up food all the time. The
bacteria multiply overnight. In the billions."
Kitchen sinks: "If you're cutting carrots, and one falls
into the sink, and you use it again, it has more faecal bacteria on
it than if it fell into the toilet."
Public swimming pools: "All I can see is butt cracks.
Excuse me; I should be more professional--the gluteal fold. I don't
go to public pools anymore, especially if there are children in
them. They're basically large toilets."
Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is the ability of a
micro organism to withstand the effects of antibiotics. It evolves as
natural selection acts upon random mutation, but it can also be
engineered quickly with the aid of an evolutionary pressure -
namely, the overuse or misuse of antibiotics. Simply put, bacteria
evolve defences against our defences, and they do it more quickly
than we can find new ways to kill them.
Our irrational fear of bacteria and the overuse of antibiotics.
Triclosan, an antibacterial agent, is a good indicator of our fear
of bacteria. It's in soaps, acne cleansers, deodorants, toothpastes,
shaving creams, mouthwashes and cleaning supplies. Triclosan is
infused in a number of consumer products such as kitchen utensils,
toys, bedding, socks and trash bags. It's everywhere because we're
terrified of bacteria.
We must stop buying such household goods as antibacterial hand soap,
mattresses and toys that include antibacterial agents. "Those
products will not improve your health," using plain old soap and
water to wash our hands. But we still slather on the triclosan and
chant, "Death to bacteria!" But why? Because we think the bacteria
are bad and evil and out to kill us.
Few bacteria are harmful but most perform a wide range of useful
functions and not there to kill us. They help us ferment and absorb
carbohydrates, enhance the absorption and storage of lipids, produce
and absorb vitamins and other nutrients, prevent harmful bacteria
from colonizing the gut and so forth. So yes, we should be wary of
bacteria like MRSA, but we should also recognize and appreciate the
benefits that bacteria confer.
Our bodies are made up of roughly 10 trillion
cells and 10 times that number of micro organisms living in our gut.
We need to realize that bacteria are everywhere and we cannot kill
them all, nor do we want to. Instead, we need to use antibiotics
appropriately and cautiously. Maybe then outbreaks of drug-resistant
bacteria won't plague our schools. Until that day, though, we will
continue to fight a losing battle against the super bugs we've
created.
"We Are At War With Infection"
The influenza pandemic of
1918 killed more people than the World War I & II, somewhere
between 20 and 40 million people. It has been cited as the most
devastating epidemic in recorded world history. More people died of
influenza in a single year than in four-years of the Black Death
Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. Known as "Spanish
Flu" or "La Grippe" the influenza of 1918-1919 was a global
disaster.
U.S. and German researchers, have found that MRSA secretes a peptide
formed by amino acids - which causes immune cells, or neutrophils
(white blood cells), to burst, eliminating your body's main defence
against infection. The MRSA peptide compounds cause inflammation,
drawing the immune cells to the infection site, at which time they
destroy the immune cells. It takes only five minutes of exposure for
the immune cells to be damaged and about an hour for their
destruction. Please note this bacteria can kill you in hours not
days !!!
With 10% Higher
risk of you getting infection in A&E / ER, How are you going to
protect your family and you from this life threatening infection ?
We are working hard to bring in changes to reduce contaminated
hospital waste in hospitals and establishing a
clinic to reduce children visiting hospitals.
New research on the threat of community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA) in
primary care (UK) shows that as many as
one in five patients who contract MRSA in the community are dead
within a year.
This is a not a
virus and you cannot fight this infection like a common cold or
flu.
Bacteria is a living cell with nucleus, genes and other
structures similar to our body cells. Virus only has genes and is
not said to be a living organism. There is a new bacteria which is
smaller than virus is now known as Nanobacta.
The bacteria is commonly carried on the skin around 30% of the
healthy people (adults and children). This bacteria has now become
immune to all known antibiotics and antiseptics, so its sad if you
get local infection but lethal if they enter your bloodstream. This
bacteria kills in 12-24 Hours, we have not seen any like this
before. This bacteria will wipe out medical profession and most of
us.
The bacteria has various toxin which can destroys infection-fighting
white blood cells (immunity), produce shock, DIC, Bleeding disorder
and enter brain, liquefy tissue. This bacteria kills fit, young,
healthy people - including children and babies - MRSA uses complex
mechanisms to avoid destruction by neutrophils, (human
white blood cells that ingest and destroy bacteria).
MRSA senses danger when it is exposed to the killer chemicals
released by neutrophils-such as
hydrogen peroxide, hypochlorous acid (the active component of
household bleach) or antimicrobial proteins. The bacterium escapes
harm and turns the tables on the white blood cells, destroying them.
Panton-Valentine Leukocidin, or PVL - produced by the CA-MRSA, which
also destroys white blood cells and thus the body's immune system in
five minutes. Healthy person can die within 24 hours of spread to
the lungs due to a form of pneumonia in which the flesh is rapidly
eaten away by enzymes - the Fifty per cent of victims with
necrotising pneumonia die within the first 12-24 hours
New strains have been reported, Flu-MRSA which is likely to spread
this winter and USA300 has also been isolated from spinal fluid
similar to Meningitis.
Ethical Dilemma: “To Treat or Not to
Treat”.
By treating patient who are carrier we (doctors) could dangerously
harm that patient by introducing systemic infection (when performing
practical procedures) and death. Not treating these patients, we may
leave this agonized sick patient to suffer pain and discomfort in
isolation.
We hope the healthcare providers & insurance companies,
pharmaceuticals companies and medical device manufacturers will make
alternative arrangements to address this issue and provide adequate
care and support to both staff and MRSA positive patients.
This is complex, as your life may depend on it, and we don't want to
lose you or see our children suffer in isolation. We have published
this website to provide useful information to help you understand
and reduce the risk of contracting the deadly antibiotic resistant
strain of bacterial infection.
Antibiotics & Bacteria
Overuse of antibiotics is creating stronger germs. Some
bacteria are already "resistant" to common antibiotics. When
bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, it is often harder and
more expensive to treat the infection. Losing the ability to treat
serious bacterial infections is a major threat to public health.
The bacteria is becoming stronger and stronger with the cell wall
becoming more harder to crack due to over enthusiastic use of
antiseptics, bactericidal detergents flooding the market.
Do
you or your child really need an antibiotic?
Antibiotics don't work on viral infections, like colds and flu.
Fever which occurs due to virus multiplying in your body may last
for one week. Very high fever does not mean your child is very
ill. Most serious infections like meningitis, appendicitis and
other bacterial infections have mild fever (often un-noticed by
parents). It may surprise you to know that they also don't work on
most ear infections and bronchitis. T
We will soon provide you with more information on what you can
do to prevent and treat the symptoms of illnesses that cannot be
cured with antibiotics.
Reference
Download
publications 
Fact
sheets about common infections
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