MedWarn.org
  • Alerts
  • Drugs
    • ADHD Medications
    • Allergy Treatments
    • Antidepressants
    • Antipsychotics
    • Antibiotics
    • Antiseizure
    • Arthritis
    • Cancer Treatments
    • Cardiovascular
    • Diabetes Treatments
    • Dietary Supplements/Weight Loss
    • Erectile Dysfunction
    • Gastrointestinal
    • Hormone Therapy
    • Oral Contraception
    • Pain Relief
    • Respiratory
    • Skin Conditions
    • Sleep
  • Vaccines/Biologics
    • Blood Products
    • Genetic Testing
    • Tissues
    • Vaccines
  • Devices
    • 3D Printed
    • Autoinjectors
    • Brain Devices
    • Breast Implants
    • Cardiac Devices
    • Contraceptive Devices
    • Cyber Security
    • Home Health Devices
    • Hip Implants
    • Infusion Pumps
    • Respiratory Systems
    • Stents
    • Surgical Devices
    • Transvaginal Mesh
  • Tobacco
  • Resources
    • Product Safety and the FDA
    • Product Recalls
    • Product Liability Lawsuits
    • Questions For A Lawyer
    • Get Help
  • About Us

Alerts, Recalls, and Legal Headlines

Sign-up to receive recall notices, medical news, and litigation updates.

SIGN-UP

Increasing Antiobiotic Resistant Gram-negative Bacterial Infections Pose Serious Threats to Patients

4/30/2014

0 Comments

 
Organizations like the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control are offering a bleak assessment of our future ability to fight common infections as the antibiotic resistance of common Gram-negative bacteria continues to increase.  Gram-negative bacteria (a description derived from the bacterium’s inability to retain the violet stain used to identify it under a microscope) have a relatively impervious outer membrane that helps the bacteria resist antibiotics.  Examples of Gram-negative bacteria commonly include E. coli (Escherichia coli), Salmonella, influenza (Hemophilus influenza), and gonorrhea (Neisseria gonorrhoeae). 

Generally speaking the subject of antibiotic resistance is not new to the medical community.  Indeed, the healthcare community has already contended with other antibiotic resistant bacteria, such as Methicillian-resistant Staphylcoccus (MRSA) in the 1990s.  First identified in the early 1980s, the reality of antibiotic resistance grew out of several factors.  The over-prescrption of antibiotics by doctors, the failure of patients to complete full courses of treatment, the use of antibiotics in agriculture, and their use as home disinfectants are all factors that at once dramatically increased the amount of antibiotics in the environment while providing the bacteria opportunities to evolve resistance to known antibiotics. 

Although antibiotic resistance in general is not new, what is a new and increasing focus of concern are a family of antibiotic resistant Gram-negative bacteria known as Carbapenums-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE).  The resistance of these bacteria to a class of antibiotics known as Carbapenums -- the antibiotic of last resort -- is what makes the current wave of antiobiotic resistance particularly troubling.  With limited tools to fight the disease, doctors have no choice but to turn to treatments that, much like chemotherapy, can harm healthy body systems in an effort to rid the patient of disease.  Yet, with no treatment (and sometimes even with treatment), CDC data indicates that 50 percent of patients infected with CRE in their bloodstream do not survive.  As of 2013 the CDC reported that CRE bacteria were responsible for 23,000 deaths.  

First identified in the US in 2001, CRE infections now have been documented in all fifty states.  Infections in the US have been concentrated in healthcare facilities, typically among patients who are already susceptible to infection.  The concern is that without urgent action to control CRE bacteria they will begin to affect society at large, including those who are not otherwise vulnerable to infection due to existing medical conditions.

[1]  http://www.cdc.gov/Features/VitalSigns/HAI/CRE/
[2] http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/amr-report/en/
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    July 2012
    June 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    August 2011
    December 2010
    August 2010
    February 2009
    July 2008

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    3D Printing
    3D Printing
    Acid Reducers
    Acne Treatments
    ADHD
    Allergies
    Antibiotics
    Antidepressants
    Anti-Epilepsy
    Antipsychotics
    Antiviral
    Arthritis
    Aspirin
    Asthma
    Autism
    Birth Control
    Birth Defects
    Blood Products
    Bone
    Brain
    Cancer
    COPD
    Cyber Crime
    Diabetes
    Dietary Supplements
    Dna-testing
    E-cigarettes
    Electronic Health Records
    Eliquis
    Epilepsy
    FDA/Approvals
    FDA Recalls
    FDA/Recalls
    FDA Warnings
    FDA Warnings
    Hearing-devices
    Hearing Loss
    Heart
    Hemophilia
    Hip Implants
    Hormone
    HPV
    Infants
    Infusion Pump
    Invokana
    Legal News
    Migraines
    Mirena
    Monitors
    Multiple Sclerosis
    Pain Relief
    Research
    Resuscitation
    Risperdal
    Sleep
    Stents
    Stroke
    Surgical Device
    Surgical Device
    Topamax
    Transvaginal Mesh
    Vaccine
    Weight Control
    Weight Control

    RSS Feed



    120x600
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from Official U.S. Navy Imagery, madaise, outcast104, archibald jude, Vee-vee