Resistance to last-resort antibiotic has now spread globally

[bbq]

Bacteria now resistant even to ‘last resort’ antibiotics
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28513-bacteria-now-resistant-even-to-last-resort-antibiotics/

Resistance to last-resort antibiotic has now spread across globe
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28633-resistance-to-last-resort-antibiotic-has-now-spread-across-globe/

New Superbug Resistant To All Antibiotics Linked To Imported Meat
http://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2015/12/10/new-superbug-resistant-to-all-antibiotics-linked-to-imported-meat/

New Bacteria Resistant to All Antibiotics Found in China
http://youtu.be/M2xZBngTIas
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=928979320518596&id=750568258359704

Coming soon to conveyor belt at the grocery checkout line near you? We can't see that stuff with naked eyes so even vegans could get MCR-1 from cross contamination of some sort. It might be relatively safe to bag the fresh produce but we'll never know how it goes.

[colonyofcells]

I would just avoid visiting hospitals and avoid handling animal products.

[bbq]

They're all plant foods but no such luck anymore:

Reports of Selected E. coli Outbreak Investigations

• Ready-to-Eat Salads – E.coli O157:H7
• Organic Spinach and Spring Mix Blend – E. coli O157:H7
• Raw Clover Sprouts at Jimmy John's Restaurants – E. coli O26
• Romaine Lettuce - E. coli O157:H7
• In-shell Hazelnuts - E. coli O157:H7
• Shredded Romaine Lettuce from a Single Processing Facility - E. coli O145
• Prepackaged Cookie Dough - E. coli O157:H7
• Fresh Spinach - E. coli O157:H7

Can you wash E. coli off produce?
http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/blogs/can-you-wash-e-coli-off-produce

Dole recalls spinach for potential salmonella
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/14/health/dole-spinach-recall-salmonella/

Not necessarily fear-mongering, I'm just wondering how to survive something like that even if the chance of getting MCR-1 were relatively slim.

[bbq]

Are We Facing Extinction?
http://youtu.be/Cm6Uh8WC16k
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=941345389281989&id=750568258359704

Superbug gene discovered in former Ottawa patient
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/superbug-gene-discovered-in-former-ottawa-patient

‘Disturbing’ drug-resistant superbug gene has been detected in Canada
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/01/05/disturbing-drug-resistant-superbug-gene-has-been-detected-in-canada.html

New ‘alarming’ superbug gene in Canada means antibiotic effectiveness is declining: officials
http://globalnews.ca/news/2435524/new-alarming-superbug-gene-in-canada-means-antibiotic-effectiveness-is-declining-officials/

So, is that supposed to be "good" news or what?

[colonyofcells]

All species go extinct and the only question is when. I heard that before civilization, hunter gatherer lifestyle, wars, climate change and diseases kept human population growth in check. Modern threats to the human species are still climate change, germs plus radiation, nuclear bombs and germ warfare. Hunter gatherer groups can also experience population growth so I would guess that plagues and climate change also helped kept population growth in check in the past. I am currently reading The World Until Yesterday by Jared Diamond. It was only yesterday when we were just small groups of hunter gatherers.

[bbq]

Protecting the Health of Americans by Improving the Use of Antibiotics
Posted on May 5, 2016 by CDC
http://blogs.cdc.gov/cdcdirector/2016/05/05/protecting-the-health-of-americans-by-improving-the-use-of-antibiotics/

Lo and behold, it's right here after only 3 weeks:

Pa. woman first in U.S. diagnosed with new drug-resistant superbug
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160527_Wolf_confirms_antibiotic-resistant_strain_found_in_Pa__woman.html

The superbug that doctors have been dreading just reached the U.S.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/05/26/the-superbug-that-doctors-have-been-dreading-just-reached-the-u-s/

[bbq]

Notes from the Field: Pan-Resistant New Delhi Metallo-Beta-Lactamase-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae — Washoe County, Nevada, 2016
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6601a7.htm

Bug resistant to all antibiotics kills woman
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38609553

The women had repeatedly needed hospital treatment in India after breaking her right leg. An infection got into the bone and then spread to her hip.

She was seriously ill when she arrived in a US hospital - her immune system was going into overdrive in an attempt to fight the infection causing inflammation throughout her body.

This escalated and ultimately she died from septic shock.

Samples of the infection taken from the wound were sent to the CDC for testing.

They showed she was infected with Klebsiella pneumoniae - which normally lives in the gut without causing disease.

The analysis found the superbug was resistant to all 26 available antibiotics in the US including the "drug of last resort" - colistin.

[Willijan]

quote from bbq: "Not necessarily fear-mongering, I'm just wondering how to survive something like that even if the chance of getting MCR-1 were relatively slim."

bbq: I keep thinking that our beneficial gut bacteria resulting from this diet may keep us safe or safer. I hope so. Of course, if you've had to take antibiotics recently, that may not work. It's just that I almost never get sick (I mean from microbe related diseases), even before I was on this diet. So I've wondered if partly it's because of beneficial gut microbes.

Other than that, and washing produce, I guess it's a matter of luck.

[Dougalling]

We get rid of the stuff in our guts so fast I don't think anything bad would have a chance to survive against all the good we keep putting in there.

[bbq]

How to solve a problem like antibiotic resistance
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170303100429.htm

Meeting the Challenge of Antibiotic Resistance
https://www.ptcommunity.com/news/20170303/meeting-challenge-antibiotic-resistance

Will my children survive antimicrobial resistance?
https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/bmcseriesblog/2017/03/02/will-children-survive-antimicrobial-resistance/

Antibiotics do not work against viruses, and then it really depends on what specific bacteria are able to withstand some / all antibiotics.

As usual going WFPB should be great for preventing non-communicable diseases but even the "very best" diets on Earth might be no match for infectious diseases. Some of us are 100% compliant at home and being less compliant while eating out, it's still inevitable that we'll get in infection somewhere (most likely not from foods) and succumb.

Even Dr. McDougall himself got an infection in his ear and he's hospitalized after an accidental fall:

https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2016nl/may/heartsurgeons.htm

Maybe it's a good idea to be prepared by informing our spouse and children etc. about what should be done whenever we're facing an acute illness that can't be prevented by eating the right foods.

[bbq]

New Antibiotic-Resistant Superbug May Be Deadly To Healthy People
http://www.ibtimes.com/new-antibiotic-resistant-superbug-may-be-deadly-healthy-people-2584893

PolyU researchers uncover new hyper-resistant, hypervirulent superbug
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20170831/PolyU-researchers-uncover-new-hyper-resistant-hypervirulent-superbug.aspx

How doctors are helping to spread deadly superbugs
http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2102429/how-doctors-are-helping-spread-deadly-superbugs

Antibiotic-resistant superbugs on Hong Kong MTR trains, study reveals
http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/2048971/antibiotic-resistant-superbugs-hong-kong-mtr

Hong Kong banknotes breeding ground for antibiotic-resistant superbugs, study finds
http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2099960/hong-kong-banknotes-breeding-ground-antibiotic

Scientists find bacteria in Beijing smog that lead to antibiotic resistance
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2049206/scientists-identify-bacteria-beijing-smog-lead

Factory farming in Asia creating global health risks, report warns
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/14/asia-factory-farming-creating-global-health-risks-report-warns

There we have it, did that sound like beginning of the end or something?

[Lyndzie]

To reinforce what BBQ mentioned in the first post - assume the grocery conveyer is covered in dried chicken juice and little bit of raw meat, because it is. Same thing with the carts. Yes, all those plastic bags seem wasteful, but you don't want raw ground beef on your apples. Just use the bags for scooping the litter box, or cleaning up after your dog.

[bbq]

Each year in the United States, at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die each year as a direct result of these infections. Many more people die from other conditions that were complicated by an antibiotic-resistant infection.
https://www.cdc.gov/drugresistance/threat-report-2013/index.html

In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that almost 21 million cases of S. Typhi infections with related 222,000 deaths occur worldwide annually.
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/drugs-health-products/canadian-antimicrobial-resistance-surveillance-system-report-2016.html

Antibiotic resistance kills an estimated 700,000 people each year worldwide, and some experts predict that number to reach 10 million by 2050 if efforts are not made to curtail resistance or develop new antibiotics.
http://www.nature.com/news/the-drug-resistant-bacteria-that-pose-the-greatest-health-threats-1.21550

Some omnivores might think that we could keep culling factory-farmed animals without any consequences but somehow we end up with culling ourselves as well.

[bbq]

Gosh, it doesn't seem to get any better:



Are antibiotics turning livestock into superbug factories?
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/09/are-antibiotics-turning-livestock-superbug-factories

‘Big Chicken’ describes how antibiotics changed life at dinner table
http://www.ajc.com/entertainment/books--literature/big-chicken-describes-how-antibiotics-changed-life-dinner-table/7dGy6nHqrv6pGffPf41qzK/

‘Antibiotic apocalypse’: doctors sound alarm over drug resistance
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/oct/08/world-faces-antibiotic-apocalypse-says-chief-medical-officer

‘Antibiotic apocalypse’: Drug-resistant gene spread across globe within 2 years
https://www.rt.com/news/406159-antibiotic-apocalypse-drug-resistant-gene/

Study finds MCR-1 is widespread in Chinese ecosystem
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2017/09/study-finds-mcr-1-widespread-chinese-ecosystem

Widespread distribution of mcr-1-bearing bacteria in the ecosystem, 2015 to 2016
http://eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2017.22.39.17-00206

A fatal outbreak of ST11 carbapenem-resistant hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae in a Chinese hospital: a molecular epidemiological study
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(17)30489-9/fulltext

Klebsiella pneumoniae ST11 and ST147 highly resistant to tigecycline from companion animals
http://sci-hub.cc/10.1128/AAC.02640-16
http://aac.asm.org/content/early/2017/03/28/AAC.02640-16

Molecular epidemiology and resistome analysis of multidrug-resistant ST11 Klebsiella pneumoniae strain containing multiple copies of extended-spectrum β-lactamase genes using whole-genome sequencing
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28072891
http://www.newmicrobiologica.org/PUB/allegati_pdf/2017/1/38.pdf

An Outbreak of Infections Caused by a Klebsiella pneumoniae ST11 Clone Coproducing Klebsiella pneumoniae Carbapenemase-2 and RmtB in a Chinese Teaching Hospital
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5009584/

Outbreak by Hypermucoviscous Klebsiella pneumoniae ST11 Isolates with Carbapenem Resistance in a Tertiary Hospital in China
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5432538/

[bbq]

Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats
https://www.amazon.com/Big-Chicken-Incredible-Antibiotics-Agriculture-ebook/dp/B01N1TQDSC

How the use of antibiotics in poultry farming changed the way America eats
https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21729544-new-book-about-rise-cheap-chicken-how-use-antibiotics-poultry-farming

Q&A: 'A chicken worth eating tastes like a chicken that had a life worth living'
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/oct/13/big-chicken-q-and-a-maryn-mckenna

'Big Chicken': The Medical Mystery That Traced Back To Slaughterhouse Workers
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/09/10/549586646/big-chicken-the-medical-mystery-that-traced-back-to-slaughterhouse-workers

Maryn McKenna, ‘Big Chicken’
http://debbienigro.com/maryn-mckenna-big-chicken/
http://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/thedebbienigroshow/DN_2017_09-19.mp3

Journalist Maryn McKenna on the rise of ‘Big Chicken’ — and our current antibiotic crisis
http://wunc.org/post/journalist-maryn-mckenna-rise-big-chicken-and-our-current-antibiotic-crisis
http://cdn.pri.org/sites/default/files/science-friday/segment-audio/scifri201709082.mp3

Hr1: News Roundup, Big Chicken, Black-Footed Ferrets
http://www.wnyc.org/story/hr1-news-roundup-big-chicken-blackfooted-ferrets/
http://traffic.libsyn.com/sciencefriday/scifri201709081p.mp3

'Big Chicken' With Investigative Journalist Maryn McKenna
http://www.wnyc.org/story/big-chicken-with-investigative-journalist-maryn-mckenna/
http://npr.mc.tritondigital.com/NPR_510316/media/anon.npr-mp3/npr/1a/2017/09/20170930_1a_podcastfinal.mp3

How Antibiotics Changed The Way The World Eats
https://the1a.org/shows/2017-09-26/how-antibiotics-changed-the-way-the-world-eats
https://downloads.wamu.org/mp3/1a/17/09/a2170926.mp3

Maryn McKenna's Big Chicken, Part 1 - Scientific American
https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/maryn-mckennas-big-chicken-part-1/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/podcast.mp3?fileId=E8FD1F42-0F5D-4ABF-AE07F420F54C8047

Maryn McKenna's Big Chicken, Part 2 - Scientific American
https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/maryn-mckennas-big-chicken-part-2/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/podcast.mp3?fileId=4409D0CE-5182-4B4E-851F80F1AB9191A1