The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a warning about a particular strain of bacteria that is wreaking havoc in hospitals across the U.S. It is called Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE for short. The name of the bacteria comes from the family of antibiotics called carbapenems. They are drugs of last resort when other antibiotics do not work on an infection. Unfortunately, these bacteria are now showing resistance to carbapenems. The CDC is concerned because that means this strain of bacteria is now resistant to nearly all antibiotics currently available. Bacteria like
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Samples of pork from six cities have shown heavy contamination with five distinct bacterial strains and an often-banned controversial growth-enhancing drug, according to Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine. According to the report, out of 148 pork chop samples and 50 ground pork samples, 11 percent of the samples had contamination with Enterococcus. A shocking 69 percent of the samples were contaminated with Yersinia enterocolitica, while only 23 percet of samples were bacteria-free. Other bacteria found in the pork samples included staph variants, at 7 percent. Both Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella were also present
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Imagine getting sick one day, assuming it is the plain old flu, and being so sick a few days later that you are admitted to the hospital. No treatments work, you get sicker and sicker, and everyone you encounter also falls sick. In 2012, that seems pretty unlikely, right? Not if you are exposing yourself (and your children) to antibiotics. Certainly taking antibiotics for an infection will not instantly create a super bug, but a pattern of antibiotic usage does make it a lot more likely that as diseases develop and adapt to immune systems,
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Mankind has spent the last 6000 years or so trying to subdue and conquer the forces of nature, while nature has spent the same amount of time frustrating and confounding these efforts. Man’s attempt to master the natural world has obviously not been a complete failure, as the rise of the modern civilization that we all know and sometimes love would not have been possible unless we had found ways to successfully impose our material culture across the face of the entire planet. But as successful as we have been in carving out a place
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On January 10, 1984, Americans first got to see three older women gathered around a seemingly impressive looking hamburger in a fast-food restaurant that proudly proclaimed themselves “The Home of the Big Bun.” After two of them marvel at the size of the bun, one of them lifts up the top of the bun to reveal a little, tiny pickle, a miniscule piece of cheese and a small dot of hamburger. It is at that moment that we initially heard Clara Peller proclaim the line that would echo down the corridors of time: “Where’s the
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — 34 years after issuing a warning about overuse of antibiotics in farm animals, the FDA has finally decided to take its own advice. As a result, the agency issued an order prohibiting certain uses of the cephalosporin class of antibiotics in farm animals, including cattle, swine, chickens and turkeys. The new rules are in effect as of April 5, 2012, according to an announcement from the FDA. For decades, the meat industry has made a regular practice of using antibiotics like cephalosporins without good reason except to accelerate animal growth by killing
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There is no disputing that antibiotics can be lifesavers. For those suffering from dangerous bacterial infections, taking these medicines may very well be necessary, and there may not be any good alternatives available in many cases. Any sane medical system will rely on the prudent use of antibiotics to help cure some infections, especially in
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Few preppers would argue that a medicine cabinet checklist is one of the most important components of your emergency-preparedness plan. After a major disaster, you can count on the fact that local pharmacies will suffer the same fate as food and supply stores—empty shelves, looting and few if any remaining, usable perishable items. In fact,
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