Superbug found in chicken

[Pseudonym]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/74173066/superbug-found-in-chicken-dangerous

 

A new  superbug has been found in chicken from three of New Zealand's four major poultry suppliers.  

The new strain of campylobacter can spread to humans, and has evolved to be antibiotic-resistant. It laughs in the face of two antibiotics – fluroquinolene and tetracylcines - but luckily is still treatable by eurythromycin.

 

Uh-oh! Cook that chook, people!

[Bigken1985]

But I'm cutting for summer

[eLm0]

I've had campylobacter food poisoning back when I was in high school from good old BBQ chicken nibbles.  Worst thing ever, lost like 8 kgs in a week. Treated it with amoxicillin (Augmentin) and came out fine, but would not want to go through that again. 

 

My prediction for the end of the world is the emergence of antibiotic resistant superbugs lol. Unless of course humans out smart them in time.

[Pseudonym]

The future is in nanobots. Nanobots will save us!

 

(Or they may just destroy us before the superbugs do...)

[Gym rat]

Saw a item about this on the news last night and thought sounds pretty scary that superbug which can be found in chicken 

[eLm0]

56 minutes ago, Gym rat said:

Saw a item about this on the news last night and thought sounds pretty scary that superbug which can be found in chicken 

 

Yea its crazy. In theory antibiotic resistant mutations can arise in ANY bacteria, and bacteria is everywhere and on pretty much everything.

The most well known superbug is MRSA which can even be found in gyms, until recently if you got an infection you were pretty screwed. Imagine if there was a massive gym outbreak, a world without fit people... what a nightmare!

[Longboa]

1 hour ago, eLm0 said:

 

Yea its crazy. In theory antibiotic resistant mutations can arise in ANY bacteria, and bacteria is everywhere and on pretty much everything.

The most well known superbug is MRSA which can even be found in gyms, until recently if you got an infection you were pretty screwed. Imagine if there was a massive gym outbreak, a world without fit people... what a nightmare!

Is MRSA the same or similar to Staph? I remember reading about an outbreak at the Tampa Bay Bucs in NFL. A few guys contracted something and one guys career is over because of it. Hes now suing the team

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12632029/lawrence-tynes-sues-tampa-bay-buccaneers-claiming-mrsa-infection-ended-career

They had to do some serious remodeling/cleaning work on the locker room if memory serves me

[GyzzBrah]

My doctor gives me Amoxy's and way stronger stuff as well for colds / runny nose.

Pretty screwed I guess.

[GyzzBrah]

Just to add to that, If you had to take amoxys for something so serious as a superbug infection from chicken, and I get it for a cold, thats pretty dumb if you think about it.

[Pseudonym]

I'm not 100% on this, Gyzzbrah, but I think it's not individual prescriptions like this that are a problem. It's farmers routinely dosing their all animals with antibiotics with the rest of their food - regardless of whether the animals need them or not. That's where the antibiotic-resistant strains evolve.

 

I have a small stockpile of antibiotics which I take if I think a cold is lingering too long and turning into a sinus infection. I've had ongoing sinus problems and several surgical operations to remove infections, so now I don't take any chances with my sinuses - taking antibiotics beats surgery any day.

 

(BTW, antibiotics fix infections, but don't work on colds themselves as these are viral, not bacterial.)

[eLm0]

15 hours ago, Longboa said:

Is MRSA the same or similar to Staph? I remember reading about an outbreak at the Tampa Bay Bucs in NFL. A few guys contracted something and one guys career is over because of it. Hes now suing the team

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12632029/lawrence-tynes-sues-tampa-bay-buccaneers-claiming-mrsa-infection-ended-career

They had to do some serious remodeling/cleaning work on the locker room if memory serves me

 

Yea MRSA is Staph. If you think of how staph goes through generations and generations of bacteria in the space of seconds, there is a chance of a mutation and that a single mutant staph cell becomes resistant. This cell then self replicates whilst the non-resistant staph is killed until the resistant staph is now the dominant population. This is a natural phenomenon. When staph becomes resistant to methicillin (a gold standard antibiotic) it is known as MRSA = Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

 

 

10 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

I'm not 100% on this, Gyzzbrah, but I think it's not individual prescriptions like this that are a problem. It's farmers routinely dosing their all animals with antibiotics with the rest of their food - regardless of whether the animals need them or not. That's where the antibiotic-resistant strains evolve.

 

I have a small stockpile of antibiotics which I take if I think a cold is lingering too long and turning into a sinus infection. I've had ongoing sinus problems and several surgical operations to remove infections, so now I don't take any chances with my sinuses - taking antibiotics beats surgery any day.

 

(BTW, antibiotics fix infections, but don't work on colds themselves as these are viral, not bacterial.)

 

Heaps of things contribute to this including using antibiotics when not necessary and importantly not sticking to the whole course of antibiotics (people tend to stop once their symptoms are relieved). It is not a good idea to stockpile and use it now and then. Antibiotics don't work on cold/flu but these are sometimes accompanied by a strep throat (bacterial) infection which is why you occasionally get prescribed antibiotics

[maccaz]

18 hours ago, eLm0 said:

 importantly not sticking to the whole course of antibiotics (people tend to stop once their symptoms are relieved). It is not a good idea to stockpile and use it now and then. 

 

 

2 bio paper student checking in and this is the way i understood it. With bacteria multiplying so rapidly, you force a mini evolution by not completing antibiotic course. 

 

hypothetical numbers but say the antibiotic kills 20% of the bacteria per day, so after 4 days you have only 20% left, but that 20% were not killed immediately by the antibiotic so it is possible they are slightly more resistant, now they are the only ones left to multiply, leading to an overall more resistant strain/mutation of the original bacteria

 

better to overdo it on the antibiotic course or at very least run whole doctor recommended course, or could do more harm than good

[Wookie]

Just been told a buddy in Auckland caught food poisoning this week matching this description. The good thing was he already was in hospital when it struck. Other good thing was the chicken was brought in by a friend, and therefore the whole of Middlemore didn't get struck down at once.

[eLm0]

3 hours ago, maccaz said:

 

 

 you force a mini evolution by not completing antibiotic course. 

 

 

Yup exactly! This is what people need to understand. Last week was actually world antibiotic awareness week, to try and get this message across.

 

2 hours ago, Wookie said:

Just been told a buddy in Auckland caught food poisoning this week matching this description. The good thing was he already was in hospital when it struck. Other good thing was the chicken was brought in by a friend, and therefore the whole of Middlemore didn't get struck down at once.

 

Hopefully it is just regular campylobacter (and not super campylobacter) otherwise it could be pretty serious stuff for your friend.

 

 

Anyway this is a topic close to my heart, making drugs that bacteria can't become resistant to was the subject of my Masters thesis, check it out here:

https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=VLu7ngEACAAJ

 

Or if you have Auckland uni access and a few hours on your hand you can read the whole thing here lol:

https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/2292/4539/browse?value=Dunraj%2C+Dhiren+Satish&type=author

[Pseudonym]

9 hours ago, eLm0 said:

and importantly not sticking to the whole course of antibiotics (people tend to stop once their symptoms are relieved). It is not a good idea to stockpile and use it now and then.

Agreed - and maybe "stockpile" was the wrong word... I just meant my doctor now prescribes me enough for several courses in the one script. I don't use them until I'm sure it's something that will not go away by itself, and if I do use antibiotics, I run a full course.

 

I read the excerpt of your thesis... I may need the specifics translated, but I think I got the gist. So you think you might have an anti-microbial peptide?

[eLm0]

15 hours ago, Pseudonym said:

I read the excerpt of your thesis... I may need the specifics translated, but I think I got the gist. So you think you might have an anti-microbial peptide?

 

Yup, I successfully synthesized a range of peptides. They were effective against Gram-negative bacteria like Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and the very nature of how these peptides work meant that bacteria can't become resistant to them.... BUT after I left that research group further work showed that this product might have a narrow therapeutic index (i.e. the difference between effective dose and toxic dose is not much) very expensive to make and were also not very metabolically stable (meaning that oral dosage wouldn't be possible, only IV).

 

Anyway this isn't enough evidence to move on to the next stage of clinical trials. But antibacterial peptides are still an area of hot research so hopefully one day someone will figure it out :)