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Health See other Health Articles Title: CDC: Deadly drug-resistant bacteria on rise in US hospitals A family of "nightmare" superbugs - untreatable and often deadly - is spreading through hospitals across the USA, and doctors fear that it may soon be too late to stop them, senior health officials said Tuesday. "These are nightmare bacteria that present a triple threat," said Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "They're resistant to nearly all antibiotics. They have high mortality rates, killing half of people with serious infections. And they can spread their resistance to other bacteria." So far, this particular class of superbug, called carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, has been found only in hospitals or nursing homes, rather than in the community, Frieden said. But officials sounded the alarm partly because, if the bacteria's spread isn't contained soon, even common infections could become untreatable. The superbug tends to strike immune-compromised people who are hospitalized for a long time or living in a nursing home, Frieden said. And CRE doesn't spread easily from person to person, like the bacteria causing pink eye or strep throat. These superbugs are "the biggest threat to patient safety in the hospital that we have," said Costi Sifri, an infectious disease physician and hospital epidemiologist at the University of Virginia Health System. "Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like anything is slowing their spread." In 2001, only 1.2% of the common family of bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, were resistant to carbapenem antibiotics - the strongest class available. By 2011, that figure had jumped to 4.2%. In the first half of 2012, nearly 200 hospitals treated at least one of these infections, Frieden said. About 4% of hospitals have had at least one patient with CRE, along with 18% of long-term, acute-care hospitals, the CDC said. Those numbers could underestimate the scope of the problem, however. There are no reliable national data on CRE infections. There is no national requirement that hospitals and other health care facilities report CRE cases. CDC officials noted Tuesday that only six states require hospitals and other health care facilities to report CRE infections. In November, USA TODAY reported that CRE infections already are endemic in several U.S. population centers, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, which account for hundreds of confirmed cases. Smaller pockets of cases have been reported across much of the country, including Oregon, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina. Hospitals have fought these infections for years. An outbreak of the bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae killed seven patients between 2011 and 2012 at the National Institutes of Health. Now, with the superbugs found in 42 states, Frieden said he felt it was time to warn the public. The country has only a narrow "window of opportunity" to act before it's too late to halt the superbugs' spread, Frieden said. When antibiotics no longer help a patient, doctors are resorting to alternatives, such as surgery to cut out infected tissue, said Sifri, who added that the country could be entering the beginning of the "post-antibiotic era." Neil Fishman, associate chief medical officer at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, said doctors are now considering using old, outdated antibiotics that can damage the kidneys, because safer ones no longer work. "I've had to ask patients, 'Do you want a toxic antibiotic and end up on dialysis, or would you prefer to have a limb amputated?' " Fishman said. Perhaps the greatest threat from CRE is its ability to share its resistance genes with other bacteria. So although CRE's spread is somewhat limited today, it could potentially share its resistance with far more common bacteria, such as E. coli, Frieden said. If that happened, common conditions affecting millions of Americans, which are now treated with antibiotics - such as diarrhea, urinary tract infections, respiratory conditions and pneumonia - could become untreatable. USA Today AHT/ARA Riley Whatever happen to taking garlic, for colds, flu, runny nose, sore throats or respiratory conditions and pneumonia. Or just eating a grated green apple for indigestion and diarrhea or drinking fresh pineapple or vegetable juice for urinary tract infections. The biggest problem to health is sugar, artificial sweeteners and fructose. Cut them out you never get sick, body pain and cramps or get fat and obese. If people take antibiotics, they should take a pro biotic to replace the good bacteria that kills these virus's,they are stripping from there immune system from taking antibiotics. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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