Health
Related: About this forumScientists Find The 'Achilles Heel' Of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria
http://www.businessinsider.com/key-to-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria-2014-6A scanning electron microscopic image shows WT (wild type) Aeromonas hydrophila strain SSU, bacteria responsible for a flesh-eating disease.
The global threat of antibiotic resistance could finally be tackled after British scientists discovered a chink in the armour of deadly bacteria.
Health experts have warned that within 20 years even routine operations like hip replacements and organ transplants could be deadly because of the risk of infection.
But now scientists at the University of East Anglia have discovered how the bug responsible for E-coli and salmonella builds an impenetrable wall to keep out antibiotics.
They believe that within a few years they could develop a drug which switches off the wall-building mechanism, making the bacteria vulnerable.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/key-to-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria-2014-6#ixzz35MfR7juH
ms liberty
(8,572 posts)HuskyOffset
(888 posts)This demonstrates rather graphically why science is important. More than that, it demonstrates why funding general science research is important.
blackspade
(10,056 posts)truedelphi
(32,324 posts)Late for that to make a difference, because the difference between the Government and Big Corporations is approximately Zip.
blackspade
(10,056 posts)grilled onions
(1,957 posts)The idiots trying to oust science in the classroom may very well be ruining future scientists and with it possible cures for medical problems we have today. They are so afraid that science may tromp on their ever sensitive toes that they don't care how many lives they could lose in the process.
merrily
(45,251 posts)Nonhlanhla
(2,074 posts)I had a cousin who died of MRSA in her 40s. She had survived stage 4 cancer - was cancer-free for a decade, but the cancer treatments had left her insides basically cooked and she had all kinds of nasty issues as a result, so she needed surgery to correct problems in her intestines. She miraculously survived that surgery as well (doctors had said there's a 50/50 chance she could die op the operating table, but she was desperate enough at that point to risk it)...for a few days, and then succumbed to MRSA. So awful - she was such a fighter, and then to die of a simple bacterial infection that could no longer be fought off by antibiotics. I really hope this research will lead to new treatments for these bacteria. Otherwise I fear for the world we are leaving behind for our kids.
And this Christian says, YES for science, and NO to stupid religious fundamentalists who block science.
marble falls
(57,075 posts)Orrex
(63,200 posts)k/r!
xchrom
(108,903 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(48,988 posts)Get patients to be sure to complete all seven or ten days of a course of antibiotics if they must be prescribed.
Hint: a cold or flu does not require antibiotics.
truedelphi
(32,324 posts)College educated adult who tosses a shit load of antibacterial soap into a frying pan to wash it..
I guess they cannot figure out that the heat from any frying procedure is going to do a pretty decent job of killing off bacteria.
And I also find that few people take the time to rinse these harsh soaps off their dishes. They use way too much to begin with, and then only a tiny bit of rinsing. That has got to be messing with people's health as the accumulated soap and antibacterial stuff never leaves their systems.
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)We keep thinking we can find solutions to our problems but forget that we must try as hard as we might to prevent the problems in the first place. The cat is out of the bag for antibiotic resistant bacteria, but there is no need to make more.
As this is the same argument many use against GMOs and not wishing to cover for lazy/greedy farming practices and growing super weeds, get ready to be called a woo pusher very shortly.
EEO
(1,620 posts)Bacteria that adapt for survival is just something else entirely... or something...
Overseas
(12,121 posts)fredamae
(4,458 posts)jeff47
(26,549 posts)Just because one bacteria's antibiotic resistance comes from this protein doesn't mean every antibiotic resistance comes from this protein. In fact, it can't. Each class of antibiotics work in a wildly different way.
This is a good development for the bacteria involved, but it will not work on every bacteria.
Additionally, the same evolutionary pressure that created these antibiotic resistant bacteria will lead to the bacteria evolving a protection from this new treatment.
IOW, it's good news, but significantly overblown in the article.