Reply #33: Few more articles on "Drug-resistant Bacteria"...also in chickens... [View All]

[RedEarth]

VUMC Researchers Find Drug-resistant Bacteria MRSA To Be A Growing Threat

Infectious diseases researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are noticing a significant increase in the number of infections due to Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) and the number of asymptomatic individuals who harbor the organism in their bodies.

In fact, in a recent analysis of children seen in 2003 at the emergency department of the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, approximately 60 percent of the skin infections due to the staphylococcus germ were due to MRSA, an organism that can produce a variety of physical manifestations across a spectrum, from the very minor, all the way to causing death. Now a new study done by VUMC researchers confirms a dramatic spread of the organism that is being harbored in the noses of healthy children.

"What this tells us is that we're more likely to find MRSA in this population than we are the typical staphylococcus organism that is susceptible to methicillin," said Buddy Creech, M.D., a fellow in pediatric infectious diseases and the lead investigator on the study. "The problem with this organism is that it seems to behave differently, with a tendency to cause skin abscesses and pneumonia."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050325233012.htm


Drug-resistant Bacteria Persist in Chickens

BALTIMORE Apr 9, 2005 — Antibiotic-resistant bacteria continued to be found in chickens bought at area supermarkets a year after two large poultry producers stopped using an antibiotic blamed for creating the resistant strains, Johns Hopkins researchers report.

The researchers say the findings suggest antibiotic-resistant bacteria may persist in the poultry industry after the use of the antibiotics, known as fluoroquinolones, has stopped and may contaminate more poultry than previously thought.

However, one of the producers and a researcher not involved with the study said it did not show whether the amount of bacteria found presented a health risk. Whether the resistant strains were naturally present or use of the antibiotic caused the resistant strains to be present in the samples also was not clearly shown, the two said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=656496