Antibiotic apocalypse - is the end nigh?

 

A terrible future could be on the horizon, a future which rips one of the greatest tools of medicine out of the hands of doctors.
A simple cut to your finger could leave you fighting for your life. Luck will play a bigger role in your future than any doctor could.

The most basic operations - getting an appendix removed or a hip replacement - could become deadly.

Cancer treatments and organ transplants could kill you. Childbirth could once again become a deadly moment in a woman's life.

It's a future without antibiotics.

This might read like the plot of science fiction novel - but there is genuine fear that the world is heading into a post-antibiotic era.

The World Health Organization has warned that "many common infections will no longer have a cure and, once again, could kill unabated".

The US Centers of Disease Control has pointed to the emergence of "nightmare bacteria".

Antibiotics kill bacteria, but the bugs are incredibly wily foes. Once you start treating them with a new drug, they find ways of surviving. New drugs are needed, which they then find ways to survive.

Deadly

As long as new drugs keep coming, resistance is not a problem. But there has not been a new class of antibiotics discovered since the 1980s.

This is now a war, and one we are in severe danger of losing.

Antibiotics are more widely used than you might think and a world without antibiotics would be far more dangerous.

They made deadly infections such as tuberculosis treatable, but their role in healthcare is far wider than that.

Surgery that involves cutting open the body posses massive risks of infection. Courses of antibiotics before and after surgery have enabled doctors to perform operations that would have been deadly before.

Cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy can damage the immune system. A course of antibiotics is prescribed to provide a much-needed boost alongside your body's own defences.

Anyone with an organ transplant faces a lifetime of drugs to suppress the immune system, otherwise it attacks the transplant, so antibiotics are used to protect the body.

"It's a pretty grim future, I think a lot of major surgery would be seriously threatened," said Prof Richard James from the University of Nottingham.

"I used to show students pictures of people being treated for tuberculosis in London - it was just a row of beds outside a hospital, you lived or you died - the only treatment was fresh air."

And this, he says, is what running out of drugs for tuberculosis would look like in the future.

But this is all in the future isn't it?

"My lab is seeing an increasing number of resistant strains year on year," said Prof Neil Woodford, from the Health Protection Agency's antimicrobial resistance unit.

Down to luck

He said most cases were resistant to some drugs, known as multi-drug resistant strains, but there were a few cases of pan-drug resistant strains which no antibiotic can touch.

Prof Woodford said the worst case scenario would "be like the world in the 1920s and 30s".

"You could be gardening and prick your finger on a rose bush, get a bacterial infection and go into hospital and doctors can't do anything to save your life. You live or die based on chance.

"But for many infections that wouldn't happen."

Opportunistic infections - those that often hit the elderly when they are already ill and vulnerable in hospital - are one of the main concerns.

Prof Woodford says the greatest threat in the UK is Enterobacteriaceae - opportunistic bugs that live in the gut such as E. coli and Klebsiella.

They are now the most common form of hospital acquired infection and they show rising levels of resistance.

The number of tests coming back with resistance to carbapenems, one of the most powerful groups of antibiotics, has soared from a handful of cases in 2003 to more than 300 cases by 2010.

It has also raised concerns about the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhoea which is becoming increasingly difficult to treat.

Around the world, multi-drug resistant and extremely-drug resistant tuberculosis - meaning only a couple of drugs still work - is a growing problem.

Global problem

Relatively speaking the UK is doing well.

"A world without antibiotics has happened in some countries," says Prof Timothy Walsh, from Cardiff University.

He was part of the team that identified one of the new emerging threats in south Asia - NDM-1.

This gene gives resistance to carbapenems and has been found in E. coli and Klebsiella.

"Antibiotic resistance in some parts of the world is like a slow tsunami, we've known it's coming for years and we're going to get wet," he said.

New Dehli Metallo-beta-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) is thought to have emerged in India where poor sanitation and antibiotic use have helped resistance spread.

But due to international travel, cases have been detected around the world including in the UK.

This highlights one of the great problems with attempting to prevent an antibiotic catastrophe - how much can one country do?

There are wide differences in how readily antibiotics are used around the world. They are prescription-only drugs in some countries and available over the counter in others.
Economic impact

There are still question about doctors giving antibiotics to patients with viral infections like the common cold - antibiotics do nothing against viruses.

Europe has banned the use of antibiotics to boost the growth of livestock as it can contribute to resistance.

But the practice is common in many parts of the world and there is a similar issue with fish farms.

Prof Laura Piddock, from Birmingham University and the group Antibiotic Action, said: "These are valuable drugs and we need to use them carefully."

Some people have even suggested that antibiotics need to be far more expensive - something more like the price of new cancer drugs - in order for them to be used appropriately.

The doomsday scenario is on the horizon, but that does not mean it will come to pass.

A renewed focus on developing new antibiotics and using the ones that still work effectively would change the picture dramatically.

But if it does happen, the impact on society will be significant.

Prof Piddock said: "Every time we can't treat an infection, a patient spends longer in hospital and there is the economic impact of not being in education or work.

"The consequences are absolutely massive, that's actually something people have not quite grasped."

Fukushima nuclear disaster adds only small health risks

Fukushima nuclear disaster adds only small health risks - The 9.0-magnitude Tohoku-Oki earthquake and ensuing tidal wave that triggered a meltdown at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi atomic power station has resulted in exactly alittle increase in life cancer risks for individuals living close, and an excellent smaller risk for populations outside of Japan, in step with a brand new report from the globe Health Organization.

The dealings in malady ensuing from radiation discharged by the destroyed plant is “likely to stay below detectable levels,” the study authors over in their 166-page report, discharged Th. That additional risk can seemingly be sunken  out by the alternatives individuals build throughout their lives, like whether or not to smoke and the way abundant to exercise, they said.

Based on the calculable levels of radiation discharged into the surroundings throughout the Fukushima crisis, scientists determined that the best threat individuals would seemingly face would be AN enlarged risk of cancer. the foremost vulnerable individuals were infants UN agency lived in shut proximity to the plant on Japan’s japanese coast.

For instance, baby boys UN agency lived within the space at the time currently have a seven-membered enlarged risk of developing malignant neoplastic disease throughout their lifetimes compared with what they'd have two-faced if the meltdown hadn’t happened. Baby women UN agency lived close to the plant and were exposed to radiation currently have a 6 June 1944 enlarged risk of developing carcinoma and a forty five enlarged risk of developing any style of cancer that forms solid tumors.

The study authors additionally calculated that these women square measure currently seventieth a lot of seemingly to develop thyroid cancer, however they emphasised that absolutely the risk was still terribly tiny, rising from zero.75% to 1.25%.

Although emergency staff had a number of the very best levels of radiation exposure, that they had however to demonstrate acute radiation effects, the scientists found. the sole effects that square measure expected during this cluster square measure “possible thyroid disorders in those few staff UN agency inhaled  important quantities of radioactive  iodine,” they wrote.

Six Fukushima plant staff died throughout or presently when the March 2011 disaster. A international organisation report last year determined that none of them perished thanks to the consequences of radiation and attributed their deaths and injuries to physical trauma, vessel stress and warmth stress. One reportable malignant neoplastic disease death couldn't be attributed to the meltdown thanks to the short time between radiation exposure and death, the U.N. said.

The report aforesaid exposure levels were poor to cause a rise in miscarriages, stillbirths or birth defects. The report didn't assess potential psychosocial or psychological state impacts from the disaster.

No discernible increase in health risks was expected outside of Japan, the scientists over.

Much of the info that was accustomed develop the chance forecast model was taken from survivors of the Hiroshima and city bomb blasts, and from metropolis nuclear plant disaster.

The study authors aforesaid they took pains to not underestimate potential health risks from the disaster. As such, they assumed that individuals living close the facility plant took longer to evacuate than they really did, which they Greek deity solely food made within the space.

Edwin Lyman, a physicist with the Union of involved Scientists, a watchdog cluster, aforesaid the UN agency report’s specialise in the enlarged risk to every person “tends to dilute the impact” of the disaster.

Lyman pointed to a different study done last year by Stanford scientists UN agency calculable that the meltdown would cause regarding 310 cases of cancer, as well as regarding one hundred thirty deaths. That study was printed within the journal Energy & biological science.

Cancer Risk From Fukushima Found in Japanese Infants.

Cancer Risk From Fukushima Found in Japanese Infants. Infants WHO were within the Japanese region most plagued by radiation when the 2011 tidal wave have a rather elevated period of time risk of some cancers, in keeping with the globe Health Organization.

Baby ladies within the region have the best relative risk increase – seventy % for thyroid cancer – the agency aforementioned during a 168-page health risk assessment.

But the agency cautioned that is on prime alittle baseline period of time risk of zero.75 percent, in order that absolutely the increase in cases of thyroid cancer is anticipated to be little.

The assessment additionally says that male infants exposed at the very best level – between twelve and twenty five millisieverts – have a few seven % relative risk increase within the period of time risk of cancer which feminine infants have a few half-dozen % increase within the period of time risk of carcinoma.

For all solid tumors combined, infants within the hardest-hit region have a few four % increase within the period of time relative risk, the agency rumored.

The magnitude nine earthquake on March eleven, 2011 – followed by a tidal wave -- killed nearly nineteen,000 individuals and severely broken the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, inflicting radiation leaks and forcing regarding a hundred and sixty,000 individuals from their homes.

The WHO assessment aforementioned exposures to radiation varied. In 2 areas of Fukushima prefecture, doses ranged from twelve to twenty five millisieverts, whereas in a lot of of the remainder of the realm, they were between three and five.

On the opposite hand, some components of the prefecture – and also the remainder of Japan -- two-faced levels of solely regarding one millisievert, whereas neighboring countries and also the remainder of the globe were well below that level.

The data, attenuated by age, sex, and proximity to the nuclear plant, "show the next cancer risk for those settled within the most contaminated components," in keeping with Dr. Maria Neira, director of the agency's department of public health and also the surroundings.

But outside those regions, she aforementioned during a statement, "no evident will increase in cancer incidence area unit expected."

A journal report in 2011 urged the U.S. had already suffered Associate in Nursing far more than fourteen,000 deaths, presumably coupled to the broken Daichi plant.

About one in 3 emergency staff WHO were concerned within the wake of the disaster also are thought to own exaggerated cancer risks, the WHO report aforementioned.

"The risk among emergency staff would be exaggerated for thyroid cancer significantly, and a few circulatory disorders," Neira told reporters.

The agency report aforementioned direct effects of radiation – the questionable settled effects, that embody cataracts and sterility – wouldn't be expected at the calculable radiation levels.

The report wasn't ready to say what number individuals were exposed within the hardest-hit areas. however information collected by emergency medical groups urged that few individuals had high radiation levels when the explosions and leaks at the facility plant.

Health Pointers for the Fitness Babes

Health Pointers for the Fitness Babes - Exercise is an essential in life. Most people will certainly nod their heads to this. Exercise is not only perfect for losing weight, it is also good for keeping a reasonable body weight, for giving a boost on the metabolic rate and also for burning those unwanted excess calories. Exercise also revs up the heart and the lungs' machinery making them more efficient in doing their natural functions. 

Aside from these, exercise also works for strengthening the bones and keeps people looking good and feeling good about themselves. Exercise also gives people the stamina to enable them to keep up with the pace of their lifestyles. Unfortunately, not many people chose to do what is good for them. Most people could not decide exactly what to do when waking up in the morning; whether to exercise or to press the snooze button one more time.

The following tips are very helpful in reaching and maintaining the ideal body weight. This is especially great for women since they get through a lot of things going on in their bodies and are more susceptible to osteoporosis. Not to mention that many women are under the pressure of keeping themselves beautiful. It is recommended that one or two of these tips at a time are incorporated to the work out routine.

Worry not that the exercise routine is not enough. It is important to keep the commitments one makes. Ideally, it is advised to exercise three to five times a week for 20-60 minutes. However, this is not exactly the case in the real world. One should not frustrate herself by aiming for the ideal when she knows for herself that it is utterly impossible. If she an manage it two times a week for twenty minutes per session, that will do just great.

It is best to focus on doing what one knows she can do than to reproach herself for having not done enough. She can start from this point and then progress on afterwards. This should make her feel successful for having kept her commitment to herself.

Weight lifting should always come first. Many women always do cardio exercises first before weight lifting. A disadvantage of this is that it is possible to miss a critical component of the routine and spend all of it on cardio training. A women may notice this by not being able to see results even after devoting long hours at the gym. This can be avoided by reversing the order. This will guarantee visible positive outcome.

Remember to monitor heart rate. It is recommended to exercise at 75-85% of the maximum heart rate. Many people stick with just pumping up only 50% of their maximum heart rate. To ensure that one is working out at the prescribed target heart rate, she should use a heart rate monitor or any exercise equipment with this feature.

Work out for only an hour or less. Doing this will keep one from dreading the gym. Focusing on the exercise and the aim to be accomplished will make each work out session more and more efficient.

Have some sort of fitness social support. Being in a fitness community maybe the important element lacking in your training program. A social support can do amazing wonders and therefore should not be underestimated. It would be helpful to work out in a gym once in while if one customarily does her work outs at home. One can also try classes in activities that have always been interesting such as yoga, pilates or sailing perhaps. One can also join clubs such as a walking club or a running club for instance.

Pep talk yourself. One should not pressure herself too much; rather, it is best to congratulate one's self and give out words of encouragement in between exercises. One should never forget to say some positive feedback for herself.

New DNA science may lead to better treatment for acne

New DNA science may lead to better treatment for acne. Infomercials promise to cure it, cosmetics try to conceal it, drugstore tinctures claim to clear it, home remedies aim to tame it — all to little effect. Acne, which pesters 85 percent of Americans at some point, has proven to be wildly stubborn and difficult to understand.

Dermatologists generally agree that acne occurs when the skin’s bacteria, including Propionibacterium acnes, feeds on oils in the pores and incites an immune response, leading to blemishes.

But in a new study that employed state-of-the-art DNA sequencing techniques to examine the bacteria in the skin of 101 study volunteers, researchers discovered something surprising. They found variations in P. acnes, and that a “good” strain of the bacteria seemed to be fighting other versions that are more potent acne instigators. The study participants who had the good bacterial strain didn’t have acne, according to the report published Feb. 28 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.

The team then sequenced the complete genomes of the specimens to explore in depth how the good and bad strains were different.

The discovery that "not all P. acnes are created equal" might help dermatologists devise treatments that more precisely target bad strains while allowing beneficial ones to thrive, said Dr. Noah Craft, a dermatologist at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute who worked on the study with colleagues from UCLA and Washington University in St. Louis.

The development of probiotic creams that deliver "good" P. acnes to the skin could work in a way similar to the way eating yogurt with beneficial bacteria can restore the balance in the gut.

"There are healthy strains that we need on our skin," Craft said. "The idea that you'd use a nuclear bomb to kill everything — what we're currently doing with antibiotics and other treatments — just doesn't make sense."

The research is just one part of a comprehensive endeavor supported by the National Institutes of Health to map the human microbiome; the trillions of microbes that live in and on our bodies, described as “the ecological community of symbiotic, and pathogenic microorganisms that literally share our body space.”

Study leader Huiying Li, assistant professor of molecular and medical pharmacology at UCLA's Geffen School of Medicine, said the researchers were unable to determine why some people had the good bacterial strains and some did not, and whether genetics or environment played a bigger role.

More research will be necessary to develop precise anti-microbial therapies or to come up with a probiotic cream for acne sufferers. But Li and Craft plan to keep up the work, to the relief of teenagers everywhere.