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posted by martyb on Sunday January 13 2019, @12:47AM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-Hepatitus-A,-ruuun dept.

According to the CDC a suberbug acquired during bariatric surgery in Tijuana just got worse.

The superbug that infected nearly a dozen Americans who recently underwent weight-loss surgery at a Tijuana hospital had a particularly nasty genetic mutation that set off alarm bells after patients began showing up in hospitals and doctors officers[sic] with painful wounds.

Pseudomonas is a common bacteria found normally in the environment the world over and generally poses little threat unless you have a weakened immune system or are sick.

Dr. David “Cal” Ham, a CDC medical officer, said Friday that the particular strain of pseudomonus bacteria involved in 11 confirmed cases had metallo-beta lactamase genes. Often called “VIM” by the epidemiological community, Ham explained that these genes cause the microbes that carry them to excrete enzymes that destroy carbapenems, a workhorse class of antibiotics with some of the broadest efficacy in medicine.

One patient has died, some have recovered, and others

are still in hospitals suffering as doctors work down a dwindling list of available options.

Dr. Ham added

“Several of the isolates involved are susceptible only to a couple of, I would say, less-than-optimal antibiotics that have significant side effect profiles.”

The pseudomonus strains in question were already drug resistant, adding the ability to ward off carbapenems makes the already serious threat even more deadly.

The inexorable decline of antibiotics continues.


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday January 13 2019, @03:45AM (1 child)

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Sunday January 13 2019, @03:45AM (#785781) Homepage Journal

    I at first through she was fat so I rationed her food until she lunged at a bowl of beans. Then I thought she was pregnant. "Happens all the time" said an employee of the pet supply store where I stocked up on kitten chow.

    When I took her to the vet for a prenatal exam that vet gave me the bad news: her abdomen was filled with a viscous liquid. There is no cure nor treatment.

    Even so, she had a good quality of life for the next few months. But when that fluid got into her brain, that she was completely paralyzed, unable even to shut her eyes led me in the middle of the night to take her to a twenty-four hour vet to beg they put her out of her misery.

    To the best of my knowledge there is only _one_ researcher in the entire planet that is seeking a treatment.

    Requiescat In Pace, my beloved Cricket.

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 13 2019, @05:02AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 13 2019, @05:02AM (#785796)

    that is a terrible way to treat your sister