RESISTANCE TO ANTIBIOTICS

This is not a new story concern over antibiotics has been going for years, yet they are often still over prescribed. In the UK antibiotics are prescription  only yet elsewhere in Europe you can go into any pharmacy and buy them, this alone has contributed to antibiotic resistance. We still have people going to their doctors and demanding antibiotics for colds and flu, these are viruses and antibiotics have no effect on a virus, what that does helps sensitise people to antibiotics and fuels resistance. Then we have the patients who do not finish their prescribed course of medication, so the bacteria is not fully eradicated and develops resistance. When I was a young nurse, we had to gown up, wear a mask and gloves to give antibiotic injections to prevent sensitisation, that practise doesn't happen these days. Antibiotics enter the food chain, as they are given routinely to raise livestock, which humans ingest, that is not why these drugs were invented. Sadly like a lot of things antibiotics are taken for granted. Because of bad practise we have a situation where we have fewer antibiotics available and one day antibiotics maybe totally useless against any bacteria. Bacterial infections used to be a huge cause of death prior to the 1940's, unless action is taken now, we will go back to that time again.

ARTICLE FROM THE DAILY MAIL BELOW

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Government's chief medical officer warns resistance to antibiotics is one of the greatest threats to modern health

• Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned there are 'few' public health issues of greater importance
• Today the Government's chief medical officer, Sally Davies, will address the World Health Assembly in Switzerland
• She will warn resistance to antibiotics will be a step back to the 19th century
• The Government is preparing a five-year plan to ensure antibiotics are prescribed properly

The Government's chief medical officer will warn today that resistance to antibiotics is one of the greatest threats to modern health.
It comes a day after Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said there are 'few' public health issues of greater importance than antimicrobial resistance.
Medical experts from around the globe need to work together to try to tackle the 'catastrophic threat' of antibiotic resistance, he said. 

Dame Sally Davies (left) and Jeremy Hunt have both warned of the 'catastrophic threat' of antibiotic resistance

Addressing the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, Dame Sally is expected to say: 'If we don't take action, in 20 years' time we could be back in the 19th century where infections kill us as a result of routine operations.'
Many of the drugs are being used unnecessarily for mild infections or illnesses which should not be treated with antibiotics - which is helping to create resistance, Professor Dame Sally Davies will say.
The Government is now preparing a five-year plan to make sure antibiotics are prescribed responsibly.
Dr Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organisation, told The Daily Telegraph:
'Health care cannot afford a setback of this magnitude. We must recognise, and respon to, the very seirous threat of antimicrobial resistance.'
According to Dame Sally, there are two reasons for the problem.
The first is that we are massively overusing antibiotic drugs, which effectively teaches bacteria how to resist them.
The second is that pharmaceutical companies are not working hard to produce any new antibiotics because they are not seen as profitable.

Professor Dame Sally said many of the drugs are being used unnecessarily for mild infections or illnesses which should not be treated with antibiotics

Earlier this year she said: ‘We haven’t had a new class of antibiotics since the late Eighties, and there are very few antibiotics in the pipeline of the big pharmaceutical companies.
British doctors say there are two particularly pressing dangers: the lung disease tuberculosis and the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhoea.
In January, for example, experts from London University tested samples taken from 18 lavatories in public buildings in the capital.

The Government is now preparing a five-year plan to make sure antibiotics are prescribed responsibly

Scientific tests, reported in the respected journal PloS One, found high levels of the potentially lethal Staphylococcus bacteria — and more than a third of these were resistant to commonly used antibiotics.
The study reinforces previous scientific research which warns that drug-resistant forms of bacteria are building up in the environment, largely because of the fact that we are consuming so many antibiotics at home and in hospital, then flushing them into our water systems.
There, bacteria can ‘learn’ how to become immune to them.
But worse still, bacteria are also ‘learning’ how to resist drugs while they are inside our bodies because of the over-prescription of drugs.
In February researchers in the British Medical Journal estimated that nearly one in 20 prescriptions for antibiotics is actually unnecessary.
Doctors are handing out 1.6 million needless courses every year.
Experts place much of the blame for this problem on pushy parents.
And patients frequently insist on antibiotics to treat colds and flu, despite the fact that these illnesses are caused by viruses and not bacteria.
Last November, the ECDC wrote to all family doctors to warn them of the implications of routinely giving patients  antibiotics because every single unnecessary prescription increases the risk of bacteria becoming resistant to treatment.
China is the world’s biggest producer and consumer of antibiotics in the world, with at least 46 per cent of antibiotics being used in livestock
Rapid global transport systems means that any of these new super-infections can travel the world in days.

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ANTIBIOTICS MADE FROM SWEAT!

The skin has several functions, one is to secrete sebum that oily substance on your skin, this is to help keep the skin moisturised by trapping moisture and forming a barrier together with sweat known as the 'Acid Mantle' The Acid Mantle is slightly acidic and acts as a Bacteriastat to inhibit bacteria. 

What we put on the skin can throw it off balance, many people use soap and water, well thats fine for your body, but our face has more sebaceous glands, is more exposed to the elements and more open to micro-organisms. Why not soap and water? well soap is alkaline and remember the acid mantle is slightly acidic, this maintains an environment where micro-organisms are less likely to multiply and if you use an alkaline product you will strip away this protective layer, making the skin more susceptible to infection. Because our sebaceous glands tend to be more active on the face, and this increase of sebum in nature's moisturiser, there may be more of a tendency for them to become blocked, if infection enters the blocked pores the result it a spot. There are a number of cleansing bars on the market and water activated cleansers around for those of you who like the feel of water on your face.

So it comes as no surprise to me scientists are working on a "a so called new" antibiotic made from sweat, emmmm I think nature thought of this all by itself first lol!

LINK TO FUNCTIONS OF THE SKIN

ARTICLE BELOW FROM THE DAILY MAIL

The latest weapon against superbugs? An antibiotic made from human SWEAT 

• Chemical in sweat called dermcidin kills harmful germs
• Is activated in salty, slightly acidic perspiration
• May now be used to develop infection-fighting drugs

An antibiotic created from sweat could fend off hospital superbugs and deadly strains of TB, researchers say.

A chemical called dermcidin is activated in salty, slightly acidic perspiration and perforates the cell membrane of harmful microbes, eventually killing them.

Scientists hope to develop new drugs based on the molecule to control a host of bacteria after uncovering its atomic structure.

Dermcidin, a chemical that is activated in salty, slightly acidic perspiration, could fend off superbugs and deadly strains of TB

Dr Ulrich Zachariae, of the University of Edinburgh, said: 'Now that we know in detail how these natural antibiotics work, we can use this to help develop infection-fighting drugs that are more effective than conventional antibiotics.'

About 1,700 types of natural antibiotics are known to exist, and researchers, writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, investigated how they work.

They found that dermcidin is spread by sweat glands, so if our skin becomes injured by a small cut, a scratch or the sting of a mosquito they rapidly and efficiently kill invaders.

 

These substances, known as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), are more effective in the long term than traditional antibiotics as germs are not capable of quickly developing resistance against them.

The antimicrobials can attack the bugs' Achilles' heel, their cell wall, which cannot be modified quickly to resist attack. Because of this, AMPs have great potential to form a new generation of antibiotics.

The compound found in sweat is active against many well known pathogens such as tuberculosis (above)

Through a combination of techniques, scientists were able to determine the atomic structure of the molecular channel.

The researchers found the molecular channel of dermcidin is unusually long, permeable and adaptable and can adapt to extremely variable types of membrane, enabling it to fend off bacteria and fungi at the same time.

The compound is active against many well known pathogens such as tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and hospital superbug Staphylococcus aureus.

Multi-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, in particular, have become an increasing threat for patients, leading to life threatening diseases such as sepsis and pneumonia.

Added Dr Zachariae: 'Antibiotics are not only available on prescription. Our own bodies produce efficient substances to fend off bacteria, fungi and viruses.'

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ANTIBIOTICS LINKS TO OBESITY FROM FARMERS FATTENING UP LIVESTOCK

Article from the Daily Mail Below and something that annoys me, the overuse of Antibiotics. At least doctors in the UK have tightened up their prescribing of antibiotics. Antibiotics are marvellous drugs and have saved countless lives, trouble is they are over used and in the story below given to animals to fatten them up, this is so wrong. Think about it, if you eat the meat from animals given antibiotics it stands to reason you will be ingesting the very same, overuse of antibiotics leads to sensitivity. I'm not saying animals shouldn't receive antibiotics is they are ill, if they are genuinely ill with a bacterial illness they of course they should be treated but not consumed until that antibiotic has left their system. I am not advocating  becoming a vegetarian either, but I do think we should chose our supplier carefully and eat organically raised animals. I am glad to see that the EU has banned this practice. 

Many pharmacies worldwide (NOT the UK) sell antibiotics to the public I believe this is so wrong and should only be prescribed by a doctor as too many people ingest these when more often than not they have a viral illness, in which case antibiotics will have no effect as they only have an effect on bacteria. Many others do not finish their course of treatment too, this then merely weakens the bacteria instead of eradicating it and gives the bacteria a chance to overcome the antibiotic and develop new strains that are unaffected by bacteria which has led to the massive problems we have today with MRSA. 

When I was a young nurse and had to give a patient an antibiotic injection we had to 'gown up' wear masks and gloves when drawing up the antibiotic into the syringe to prevent sensitivity as minute droplets could enter the atmosphere when expelling air from the hypodermic syringe. We treated antibiotics with respect I don't believe this practice is still carried out today.

I do feel we should condemn this practice of giving antibiotics routinely to animals simply to plump up livestock and treat antibiotics with respect or there may come a time (and it's already happening) when we no longer have effective antibiotics at all. It should worry us all for do we want to go back to the time when a simple prick from a rose thorn could lead to septicaemia?

After reading the story below you might wish to consider this

http://www.quorn.co.uk/why-quorn/

'Farmers behind fat epidemic': Study finds links between obesity and antibiotics used to plump up livestock

• Farmers have used non-therapeutic doses to increase weight of cows and pigs
• Exposure to medicine may impair children's metabolic development

Farmers may have fuelled the obesity epidemic by fattening up livestock using antibiotics, a study has discovered.
Researchers found evidence that low exposure to the drugs upsets the delicate balance of gut bacteria which in turn alters metabolism.
The findings indicate a possible link between rising rates of obesity and modern farming methods.

EU farmers are banned from using antibiotics to fatten up their cows as a study shows that the drugs are linked with obesity levels

Since the 1950s, farmers have used low non-therapeutic doses of antibiotics to increase the body weight of cows, sheep, pigs and chickens.
The practice has sparked fears of spreading antibiotic resistance as the drugs get into the food chain, leading to a tightening of the rules.
Using antibiotics to fatten up farm animals is now banned in the EU but still allowed in the US and other countries.

The new research suggests antibiotic use on farms may pose other risks besides breeding resistant super bugs.

Exposure to the medicines may seriously impair the metabolic development of children

Exposure to the medicines may seriously impair the metabolic development of children, setting them up for a lifetime struggle with their weight.
As well as being exposed to antibiotics indirectly through the food chain, children are commonly given the drugs to treat minor ailments.
In the US, the average child now receives one antibiotic course per year.
'The rise of obesity around the world is coincident with widespread antibiotic use, and our studies provide an experimental linkage,' said lead researcher Professor Martin Blaser, from New York University School of Medicine in the US.
'It is possible that early exposure to antibiotics primes children for obesity later in life.'
The scientists administered common antibiotics such as penicillin and vancomycin to weaning mice at similar doses as those used in agriculture.
The treatment altered the composition of gut bacteria in the mice which in turn led to metabolic changes, such as increased production of fatty acids. After about six weeks the mice had gained about 10 per cent to 15 per cent more fat mass than untreated mice.
'By using antibiotics, we found we can actually manipulate the population of bacteria and alter how they metabolise certain nutrients,' said co-author Dr Ilseung Cho, also from New York University.
'Ultimately, we were able to affect body composition and development in young mice by changing their gut microbiome through this exposure.'
The findings are published today in the journal Nature.
Although it was known that antibiotics could fatten up animals, previously the mechanism involved was unclear.
Commenting on the results, British expert Professor Brendan Wren, form the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: 'The role of the composition of our gut microflora is increasingly recognised as being important and has been linked to inflammatory bowel disease, metabolic disorders, immunity and obesity.
'It has been considered as the forgotten super organ in humans, and it is only now through advances in genome sequencing that we can assess the composition of the complex population of microbes in the gut.
'Indiscriminate use of antibiotics for livestock (often used to fatten animals), not only promotes the spread of antibiotic resistance, but can get in our food chain and affect the homeostasis of our gut microflora.'
Dr Cormac Gahan, from University College Cork in the Irish Republic, said: 'These studies support an emerging body of evidence linking gut bacteria with the development of obesity.
'Other research has identified specific subgroups of gut bacteria that play a role in energy extraction from the diet and influence the production of hormones in the host.
'Disrupting this finely balanced ecosystem clearly has consequences for host metabolism and weight gain.'

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HONEY A WELL KNOWN BEAUTY SECRET

The reason I have posted this today is as well as being great for your skin, there is no reason why you need to use this particular brand of honey. Honey is a secret to us Holistic beauty therapists have known for decades, it can be used alone or mixed with other ingredients such as banana, as well as nourishing and deeply moisturising to the skin it also has a natural antibiotic effect, so fantastic for skin prone to break outs

The £8.49 jar of honey that can be used as a face mask and 'reverses signs of ageing by 10 years'

A new 'sticky' face pack made from honey which claims to reverse the ageing process by up to 10 years goes on sale today.

Active Chilean Rainforest Honey is said to smooth fine lines on the face, neck and hands while tightening the skin.

Used twice a day for 20 minutes, it is also said to be twice as good as normal moisturisers at reducing stretch marks, and for preventing sunburnt skin from peeling.

Bee's knees: Active Chilean Rainforest Honey, which costs £8.49 a jar - is derived from the nectar of the Quillay, Tineo and Ulmo trees, native to the Valdivian rainforest of southern Chile

Studies show the honey - which is also edible - is significantly more potent than Manuka, the much-hyped 'superfood' from New Zealand.

Active Chilean Rainforest Honey is already a phenomenon in America - the obesity and sunbed capital of the world - where sales have grown by 400 per cent since April.

Boots and High Street health food stores say they are expecting an 'unprecedented rush' in the coming weeks.

Jamie Christie, of British manufacturer The Active Honey Company, said the anti-ageing properties came as a surprise.

But he added: 'Active Chilean Rainforest Honey is a wonderful product as it can be used in such a variety of ways. 

Miracle product? Used twice a day for 20 minutes, it is also said to be twice as good as normal moisturisers

'The latest, it appears, is for a facial mask.

'It is incredibly popular in the United States and, judging by the feedback we've received, it looks set to become something of a 'hit' in the UK, too.'

The honey - which costs £8.49 a jar - is derived from the nectar of the Quillay, Tineo and Ulmo trees, native to the Valdivian rainforest of southern Chile.

Unlike normal supermarket honey, which is pasteurised, it contains a treasure chest of 'raw' nutritional value including an abundance of vitamins and minerals.

Local Chilean tribes have used it to treat wounds and common skin ailments for centuries. But modern practitioners are recognising its value, too.

It is naturally acidic, high in antioxidants, and releases a small amount of hydrogen peroxide that has been shown to fight the three types of bacteria that commonly infect wounds - including the notorious MRSA 'superbug'.

A clinical study in 2009 by the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin found Active Honey from Chile killed more bacteria than its 'rival', Manuka.

The secret to Chilean Rainforest Honey's anti-ageing properties could lie in the presence of enzymes, which break down scar tissue and make ageing and sun-damaged skin more elastic.

There have been no clinical studies but the company claims the users have reported looking ten years younger in a matter of weeks.

Mr Christie said British consumers have already placed almost 1,000 online orders in the last fortnight.

'It's one of the most exciting skincare products to hit the shelves in Britain for a decade, no question,' he said.

But he admitted: 'Chilean Rainforest Honey does have one, small drawback when used as a face cream - it's a bit sticky.' 

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ANTIBIOTICS MADE MORE EFFECTIVE BY GLUCOSE

I can maybe understand the logic of this. Sugar is a natural preservative, e.g. take preserves such as jams and marmalade, sugar stops bacteria and moulds growing in the product, so it stands to reason it might hinder the bacteria somewhat and allow the antibiotics to be more effective.

A spoonful of sugar can help beat bugs: Antibiotics made more effective by glucose

It seems a spoonful of sugar can do more than help the medicine go down – it can also help make it work.
Sugar can improve the effectiveness of antibiotics against infections, according to researchers.
They found that glucose and fructose – types of sugar found in plants – make bugs that cause chronic and recurrent infections more vulnerable to drugs.

Sugar can improve the effectiveness of antibiotics against infections, according to researchers

Such infections often occur when bacteria ‘shut down’, making antibiotics ineffective against them.
Over time, the bugs, known as ‘persisters’, return to life, causing patients to relapse.
The scientists, from Boston University, tested the effects of drawing the bacteria out of their hibernation using sugar.
They found stimulating the bugs with sugar renders them vulnerable to antibiotic attack.

 

Testing the strategy on Eschericia coli (E. coli) bacteria, a common cause of urinary infections, the researchers were able to eliminate 99.9 per cent of persisters in just two hours.
Without sugar, the drugs they used had no effect, according to a report in the journal Nature.
The team now plans to investigate whether sugar additives can help fight tuberculosis.

Researchers found stimulating E.coli bacteria with sugar rendered them vulnerable to antibiotic attack

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1386041/A-spoonful-sugar-help-beat-bugs-Antibiotics-effective-glucose.html#ixzz1MR7REYrT

Maggie Brown (Author)

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