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Mike the Mad Biologist

Mad rantings about politics, evolution, and microbiology

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ntm4-30-7 Mad rantings about politics, evolution, and microbiology. Comment policy: say what you want, but back it up with an email address. I don't like anonymous trolls.

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MRSA:

Community-Acquired ST398 MRSA Found in Sweden

This is bad. The piggy MRSA has entered the commensal human population.

The Piggy MRSA Is in Hospitals

I've been saying for a while now that the 'piggy MRSA*', known as ST398, is going to be a problem. Always listen to the Mad Biologist.

The 'Piggy' MRSA: It's Here...

The piggy MRSA is here. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

The Silly Distinction Between CA-MRSA and HA-MRSA

It's all just MRSA.

Is NIAID Focusing on the Wrong Resistant Organisms?

Needed: more focus--money--on the ESKAPE organisms.

Some Good News About Vancomycin Resistant MRSA

It's very hard to evolve.

The Healthy Hospitals Act of 2007: A Good Start, but Not Enough

Occasionally, Congress crafts good, if not great, legislation regarding infection control.

MRSA: Jumping from Pigs to Humans?

It certainly looks that way.

Some (Relatively) Good News About Piggies and Resistant Bacteria

An epidemic strain of MRSA doesn't survive very well in the food chain.

New MRSA Strain Spreading Among Gay Men

One of the depressing things about the ascendancy of the Christopaths is that they hate any public health interventions that involves gay people. In the case of antibiotic resistance, that's not only evil, but it's also stupid.

Pigs, MRSA, and 'Superbugs'

The misuse of antibiotics in agriculture needs to stop, but I'm not sure it has much to do with community-acquired methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA).

More About Pigs and MRSA

Another study suggests a link between pigs and MRSA.

FOX TV Misinformation About MRSA

FOX TV: doing its part to make the MRSA problem even worse.

Antibiotic Resistance Is a Breakdown of Infection Control

One of the hidden stories in the rise in the frequency of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains is that this has also been accompanied by an absolute increase in the number of infections.

Staph Deaths Exceed AIDS Deaths in U.S.

Two studies have bad news about staph infections. They're increasing--rapidly. And the antibiotic resistance problem doesn't just mean harder-to-treat infections, but more infections overall.

Wash Your Damn Hands, Part I Can't Count That High (Again)

We're getting worse at washing our hands. And guys, your penis is a loaded weapon--in a bad way.

If You Have Had MRSA...

then please take this survey.

This Little Piggy Went to Market...

....this little piggy had MRSA up its nose.

CTX-M-15 ESBLs: They're Loose

Well, that title has more obscure jargon than a bad Tom Clancy novel. But it has to do with antibiotic resistance. It's not good news.

Ambulances and MRSA

Here's a disturbing paper: "Can methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus be found in an ambulance fleet?" The answer?

KPC: An Emerging Threat

No, KPC isn't a new fast food restaurant. It's short for Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase. The bad news: it's very hard to treat. The good news: it's very rare...for now.

Why Resistance Matters: the Things That Don't Show Up in the Statistics

Last night, I was reading some of the comments you leave here, and, in response to a post about a surgeon who thinks evolution is irrelevant to medical practice (Got Antibiotic Resistance?), fellow ScienceBlogling Mark left a comment. I'll get to the comment in a minute, but tragically, I hear stories like his far too often.

Some Interesting Staphylococcus aureus Factoids

Or maybe terrifying is a better word. I just returned from the Network on Antimicrobial Resistance in Staphylococcus aureus meeting, where I learned some very interesting things about S. aureus (since I'm going to refer to MRSA, methicillin resistant S. aureus repeatedly, go check this link if you want to know more about MRSA):

A Commensal 'Epidemic' in E. coli?

It sure looks that way. Last night, I was talking to a colleague and he told me that several groups, including his, are seeing a very interesting pattern in commensal Escherichia coli (those E. coli that live in everyone's gut and aren't making us sick).

Why Political Pandering to Creationists Matters

When I heard that Republican Senator and presidential candidate John McCain spoke at the Discovery Institute, I was disappointed but not surprised. In March, there's going to be a report released about antibiotic resistance in bacteria. A major finding of the report:

It's the 'Boring' Bacteria That Make You Sick

I've blogged before about how, for children under five, it's not the 'sexy' microbes that kill, but instead, the run of the mill ones: the bacteria that cause diarrhea and pneumonia are the culprits. One of the things I have heard a lot of recently regarding antibiotic development (and related therapies) is that we need to focus on 'non-paradigm' and non-model organisms. There's a problem with that approach.

Good News About MRSA Infections

Here's some very good news about MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus): U.S. hospitals are beginning to implement their own versions of 'search and destroy' (italics mine):

A Potential Treatment For MRSA

Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major public health threat. Currently, there are only a few antibiotics that are effective against it, and resistance is even a problem with these antibiotics. There is a potential treatment that might be effective against MRSA: heteropolymer (HP) antibody therapy.

Michael Fumento: Still a Disingenuous Ideologue

So Michael Fumento has issued a challenge to put 'odds' on avian influenza, thinking that somehow I've stated that an avian influenza pandemic is likely (he's also accused me, a scientist, of being "anti-scientist" and "alarmist). Well, I'm not putting odds down because I've never said that a pandemic is likely. Then again, one should hardly be surprised when a professional conservative completely distorts what one says.

MRSA and VRSA

From the archives, I'm reposting this article about MRSA and VRSA. I've made some changes because the science and medical practice have changed.

I'm Famous!

...or at least, I was mentioned in Cell.

VRSA Hospital Insurance

I was recently at a conference where one speaker (Dr. Thomas O'Brien) suggested 'VRSA hospital insurance' to prevent the spread of vancomycin resistant Staphylococcus aureus outbreaks ('VRSA'). Before I get into the plan, let's talk about VRSA.

If Mice Are Men...

then what we think makes community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) so infectious might be wrong. A to-be published article in the Journal of Infectious Diseases (Dec. 15) asks "Is Panton-Valentine Leukocidin the major virulence determinant in community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus disease?" Before everyone wanders off due to boredom, let me translate: we don't really understand how CA-MRSA can kill you.

Senate Committee Supports Research in Antimicrobial Resistance

Occasionally, Congress does something right. In this case, they are making research to develop new antibiotics a priority:

MRSA and 'Search and Destroy'

I have discussed the "search and destroy" strategy for controlling and reducing methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) before. Search-and-destroy involves the screening of every patient and hospital worker for MRSA.

Staphylococcus aureus: The Wild Type Is Resistant

Geneticists often use the phrase wild type to describe the dominant allele--genetic variant--of a gene. In microbiology, we typically assume that the wild type of a bacterium is sensitive to antibiotics, and that the rare mutants (and recombinants) are antibiotic resistant.

An Interview About Antibiotics and Agriculture

Since I'm off to Woods Hole to give a lecture about antibiotic resistance, I thought this interview from the old site with Dr. Henrik C. Wegener about antibiotics and agriculture would be appropriate.

Platensimycin: a New Antibiotic

Joseph beat me to it: there's a Nature article about platensimycin, an antibiotic that inhibits lipid biosynthesis in Gram positive bacteria.

The Silent Killer: Hospital-Acquired Infections

From the archives, comes this post about the health crisis no one cares about (except for the Mad Biologist. We are very caring): the 90,000 deaths per year from infections people get while in the hospital.

New Edition of Animalcules

The carnival o'the wee beasties known as Animalcules is up at Science Matters. I have a post about MRSA and drug use in this edition. There's also a good post about drug resistance in the HIV virus. While I'm advertising...

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