-Caveat Lector- 'Superbugs' soar Hospitals report rise in multidrug-resistant infections A new report says samples of the deadly Streptococcus bacteria that resist not only penicillin but also two other powerful antibiotics jumped 64 per cent in only three years. By Robert Bazell NBC NEWS Dec. 27 - It's a danger of staggering proportions. Every year, one in 20 hospitalized Americans - 1.8 million people - develop an infection, with 88,000 of them dying. The biggest threat: "supergerms" resistant to antibiotics. THE PROBLEM IS growing worse. In a new study out Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that samples of the deadly Streptococcus bacteria that resist not only penicillin but also two other powerful antibiotics jumped 64 per cent in only three years. "The key finding is that we discovered strains that were already resistant to one drug were picking up additional resistance to other antibiotics," said the CDC's Dr. Cynthia Whitney. Her research appears in The New England Journal of Medicine. In the decades since the first life-saving antibiotic, penicillin, was discovered, the inappropriate use of antibiotics has yielded these wonder drugs less and less effective. Read on to learn more about antibiotic resistance and what you can do to help prevent it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Michael Fowler knows the deadly threat all too well. While hospitalized for arthritis surgery, his wife Dulcey was infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Doctors struggled in vain to save her. "Then they told me they could keep her alive on the ventilator for a while," Fowler recalls, "but she was just sinking and it was kinda hopeless." Can anything be done to combat the danger? Dr. Barry Farr, head of infection control program at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, says hospitals are more dangerous than ever. With shorter stays for many procedures mandated by insurance, patients who remain in the hospitals are often seriously ill, with weakened immune systems. Advertisement "They're very sick," Farr says. "They're at higher risk and the infection, the bugs, that are around are more of a risk to them." To cut the risk, UV Medical Center frequently takes cultures from patients - five to 10 times as often as many similar hospitals. The goal: to spot antibiotic-resistant germs before they make a patient sick. "It's only when you have a sort of a surveillance culturing mechanism, a policy, and are regularly looking for them that you know they' re there," he explains. A patient carrying resistant germs is placed in isolation. The hospital staff, even visitors, must wear gowns and gloves when they visit to stop the infection from spreading. How well do the infection control methods work? Officials at UV surveyed several similar-sized hospitals that don't use this strict method and found that their rates of antibiotic resistant infection were, on average, five times higher. Unfortunately patients are often kept in the dark. Hospitals are not required to reveal their infection rates. In fact, experts say, many are actually cutting infection control programs in order to save money. "A lot of hospitals and long-term care facilities are putting their heads in the sand regarding infection control," says UV's Michael Osterholm. And that, experts say, will only increase the deadly threat. Robert Bazell is the chief science correspondent for NBC News. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om