Sobering article on bacterial immunity

[Walt34]

This will come as no surprise to those who work (or worked) in healthcare but it is sobering, even a bit scary, to see it in action. Most of you already know about evolving bacterial resistance to antibiotics, but it seems a bit "far off" and abstract. It is not.

You’ve undoubtedly seen this plot before: a cast of characters gets slowly whittled down over the course of a quest, in which increasingly difficult challenges compels the protagonists to acquire new skills. A familiar story, but you’ve never seen it play out in a movie quite like this.

The cast members are bacteria. Their set is a large acrylic dish, four feet wide and two across. It is filled with a nutritious agar jelly that contains varying amounts of an antibiotic. The outermost sections are free of the drug—a safe zone in which microbes can easily grow. But as they move towards the dish’s centre, the concentration of antibiotic goes up in 10-fold increments, and conditions become increasingly deadly. To survive in these toxic zones, they need to evolve resistance.

Stunning Videos of Evolution in Action - The Atlantic

 

[Gumby]

It is my understanding that colistin is the antibiotic of last resort. Colistin resistant bacteria have now been detected in the USA.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160526152033.htm

Scary indeed. I have long thought that it will be the bugs, not the bombs, that end up killing us all.

 

[Moemg]

It is my understanding that colistin is the antibiotic of last resort. Colistin resistant bacteria have now been detected in the USA.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160526152033.htm

Scary indeed. I have long thought that it will be the bugs, not the bombs, that end up killing us all.

I think it will be medical errors . My SO recently had knee replacement surgery and a fairly large mistake was almost made in his care . Luckily I had been there and intervened but it took a lot of insisting for the staff to check on what I was saying.

 

[RobbieB]

Nothing will kill us all, some will survive and adapt.

I'm much more afraid of old age than bacteria.


edit - Except when the sun novas in 5 million years

 

[aja8888]

edit - Except when the sun novas in 5 million years

Even the bugs won't survive that (except maybe these Texas cockroaches).

 

[ejman]

Nothing will kill us all, some will survive and adapt.

I'm much more afraid of old age than bacteria.


edit - Except when the sun novas in 5 million years

You had me worried there. I had to check the Firecalc calculation for 5 million years out but I'm OK. The estimate for the sun growing to a red giant and destroying the earth is 5 billion years sad to report Firecalc says I'm not gonna make it...

 

[Sunset]

These highly resistant bacteria threaten us as much as folks were threatened in the very old days prior to antiboitoics.

Cause of London's Great Plague revealed by ancient DNA - CNN.com

DNA sampling from a plague pit (mass grave) from the teeth show a bacteria was the plague.
"In 1665, the Great Plague of London killed more than 75,000 people in the space of a year, almost a quarter of the city's population back then."

The number is small, but imagine 1/4 of Chicago would be 680,000 dead. And with air travel it would be in every city at once.

 

[Walt34]

These highly resistant bacteria threaten us as much as folks were threatened in the very old days prior to antibiotics.

That's the concern, that the "age of miracle drugs" is nearly over. Great, just in time for me to hit old age.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

Regarding evolution, resistance is futile -
Fleming warned about antibiotic resistance shortly after penicillin became widely used. Viruses have always operated outside the influence of antibiotics - influenza, SARS, ebloa etc...
Now with CRISPR technology focused on larger organisms this quote from a Quanta magazine piece on gene drives -

“In the long run, even with a gene drive, evolution wins in the end,” said Kevin Esvelt, an evolutionary engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “On an evolutionary timescale, nothing we do matters. Except, of course, extinction. Evolution doesn’t come back from that one.”

https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160908-gene-drives-and-evolution/

 

[nwsteve]

I think it will be medical errors . My SO recently had knee replacement surgery and a fairly large mistake was almost made in his care . Luckily I had been there and intervened but it took a lot of insisting for the staff to check on what I was saying.

AND you have credentials!! Image how well the typical patient family concern is viewed.
Nwsteve

 

[razztazz]

I think it will be medical errors . My SO recently had knee replacement surgery and a fairly large mistake was almost made in his care . Luckily I had been there and intervened but it took a lot of insisting for the staff to check on what I was saying.

AND you have credentials!! Image how well the typical patient family concern is viewed.Nwsteve

Amen! Been there more than once. Don't know how many more bullits I will be able to dodge

 

[Helena]

.

Back to the body's natural immune system.

Btw... I read recently that people today are low in vitamin D because most people routinely shower it off their skin daily.

.

 

[Fermion]

The number is small, but imagine 1/4 of Chicago would be 680,000 dead. And with air travel it would be in every city at once.

Isn't that roughly the murder rate there already?

 

[FUEGO]

Isn't that roughly the murder rate there already?

No, you're getting it confused with the number of corrupt government officials in the city.

 

[Sunset]

Isn't that roughly the murder rate there already?

We seem to be trying:
Chicago Passes Threshold Of 500 Homicides In 2016 : The Two-Way : NPR

"Chicago cemented its reputation as the murder capital of the country with 13 fatal shootings over the Labor Day weekend, bringing the city's annual toll to at least 500 killings. That's more homicides this year than the nation's two largest cities — New York and Los Angeles — combined."

At least we won't have to worry about the bacteria

 

[FUEGO]

We seem to be trying:
Chicago Passes Threshold Of 500 Homicides In 2016 : The Two-Way : NPR

"Chicago cemented its reputation as the murder capital of the country with 13 fatal shootings over the Labor Day weekend, bringing the city's annual toll to at least 500 killings. That's more homicides this year than the nation's two largest cities — New York and Los Angeles — combined."

At least we won't have to worry about the bacteria

If this whole early retirement thing doesn't work out, I guess there's plenty of openings for emergency medicine, undertaker, coroner, homicide detective, and coffin manufacturer there in Chi-town.

 

[Turn_the_Page]

Just read an article In Texas Monthly about scientists finding antibiotic resistant bacteria in the dust blowing around the cattle feedlots. Not surprisingly, when the results were published, the deniers (cattle industry) went after the scientists.

 

[3800Fiero]

All hope is not lost. Seems there is work being done with phages that can work where antibiotics fail. The trick is to get the right cocktail of phages for each bad bacteria.

EHP – Phage Renaissance: New Hope against Antibiotic Resistance

What's old is new again!