Mike the Mad Biologist has some worrisome new findings on Acinetobacter, an emerging bacterial pathogen that has cropped up in the Middle East and Mexico. Mike discusses a new study on Acinetobacter genomics, showing that it has an island with 45 resistance genes, and that it's resistant to damn near everything. Just what we need--more "superbugs."
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Update: I was in error (long day at work). The article was published in Wired magazine
One of my many pet peeves is that nobody takes 'ordinary' bacterial infections seriously. I originally wrote this post Jan.
This is an important medical story about the spread of a drug-resistant strain of bacteria called Acinetobacter baumannii. The spread of this superbug - it's known as an opportunistic pathogen, since it preys on the old, young and weak - seems to largely be a consequence of war.
I've previously mentioned a bacterial pathogen called Acinetobacter baumannii (a bit more information here), an
Sorta on-topic: NPR had a story on the long term use of antibiotics to treat acne in teens. One of the things said was that they were using low-dosing to reduce some of the side effects.
But it seems to me that low-dosing increases the risks associated with antibiotic resistance. If you're using enough to have an effect on acne, you're using enough to kill bacteria -- but by low-dosing, aren't you also lowering the resistance bar -- allowing more moderately resistant bacteria to survive than otherwise would? I figured I'd ask here, since you are the person I thought of when I heard the story.
Good question. That's long been the concern with the use of antibiotics in farm animals: they're given at sub-clinical doses to improve growth, which seems like the ideal conditions for the development of resistance. To my knowledge, that's not been rigorously tested, but I've not reviewed that area as well as I should have. Mike's an antibiotic professional, though, so you might want to hit him with that question.