1st 5-antibiotic-type resistant gonorrhea strain in U.S. discovered in Massachusetts

[Werk 13,166]

This is from January but thought I'd still share since it hasn't yet on GGD:

 

 

[PartySick 174,211]

...both Massachusetts patients were cured with standard treatment, a one-time injection of ceftriaxone.

The strain is circulating in the Asia-Pacific region, and 10 cases were recently identified in the United Kingdom. The UK patients were also cured with ceftriaxone.

Should ceftriaxone stop working, there are alternative drugs but they have greater risks, or are less effective, doctors say.

So...it's a known strain with a known treatment that worked? I mean, I understand that microbes' resistance to our antibiotics is a very serious concern but why exactly is this specifically news worthy and not just a footnote in that larger story?

[River 128,604]

lock down is back everyone

[Levine 23,978]

Viruses are dangerous, but bacteria are lethal. In almost 50 years if things are going the same, bacteria will develop resistence to all the antibiotics and the whole population will be decimated. 

[Helxig 45,623]

11 minutes ago, Levine said:

Viruses are dangerous, but bacteria are lethal. In almost 50 years if things are going the same, bacteria will develop resistence to all the antibiotics and the whole population will be decimated. 

I'm so afraid of this   I'm constantly telling people off for not finishing their rounds of antibiotics. We need more education around why it's so important

[Levine 23,978]

1 hour ago, Helxig said:

I'm so afraid of this   I'm constantly telling people off for not finishing their rounds of antibiotics. We need more education around why it's so important

I attended a conference in which a microbiologist said it's already too late. He said bacteria are modifing themselves at a rate that we "can't catch them" with new antibiotics

[Helxig 45,623]

9 minutes ago, Levine said:

I attended a conference in which a microbiologist said it's already too late. He said bacteria are modifing themselves at a rate that we "can't catch them" with new antibiotics

[AsleepOnTheCeiling 6,998]

2 hours ago, Levine said:

I attended a conference in which a microbiologist said it's already too late. He said bacteria are modifing themselves at a rate that we "can't catch them" with new antibiotics

I'm not completely dismissing the fact that this is scary, but surely medicine in general is advancing quick enough to not need antibiotics the same way we currently do at some point in the not so distant future. 

[Chromatography 10,186]

26 minutes ago, TortureMeOnReplay said:

I'm not completely dismissing the fact that this is scary, but surely medicine in general is advancing quick enough to not need antibiotics the same way we currently do at some point in the not so distant future. 

this isn’t true. antibiotics is not a lucrative industry so not a lot of big pharma works in that space. it’s been decades since a new antibiotics class has been discovered. personally i don’t think it’s too late, but we are treading dangerously to that space. 

also, we don’t need antibiotics a lot of the time anyway. they are grossly overprescribed by doctors for no reason which is a huge factor playing into resistance 

[Economy 53,076]

On 2/25/2023 at 11:40 PM, PartySick said:

...both Massachusetts patients were cured with standard treatment, a one-time injection of ceftriaxone.

The strain is circulating in the Asia-Pacific region, and 10 cases were recently identified in the United Kingdom. The UK patients were also cured with ceftriaxone.

Should ceftriaxone stop working, there are alternative drugs but they have greater risks, or are less effective, doctors say.

So...it's a known strain with a known treatment that worked? I mean, I understand that microbes' resistance to our antibiotics is a very serious concern but why exactly is this specifically news worthy and not just a footnote in that larger story?

I guess cuz it's the first strain that shows a degree of resistance to all 5 major antibiotics generally used to fight it? Which shows a worrying trend.

 

As for it being a bit dramatic and blown out of proportion in significance... I mean isn't the internet pure clickbait nowadays?

 

Like how there's an article every other day on an asteroid that's passing very close to earth and poses a danger. Until u read the details in the article that by "close" and near miss they mean by space standards and is still like 100,000 miles away and the "danger" is a 1 in 50,000 chance of actually colliding with earth

[Nemo 4,414]

On 2/26/2023 at 3:33 AM, Levine said:

Viruses are dangerous, but bacteria are lethal.

Either can be lethal. Most (of both) have no effect on us, and some bacteria are actually essential symbiotes with humans.

Ironically enough, in the potentially post-antibiotic age coming, one of the most effective ways to attack bacteria will be... viruses.

On 2/26/2023 at 8:16 AM, Chromatography said:

this isn’t true. antibiotics is not a lucrative industry so not a lot of big pharma works in that space.

Lots of things are like that. We need more government-funded pure research into unprofitable medicines (and maybe their production and distribution, too).

[Chromatography 10,186]

7 hours ago, Nemo said:

Either can be lethal. Most (of both) have no effect on us, and some bacteria are actually essential symbiotes with humans.

Ironically enough, in the potentially post-antibiotic age coming, one of the most effective ways to attack bacteria will be... viruses.

Lots of things are like that. We need more government-funded pure research into unprofitable medicines (and maybe their production and distribution, too).

antibiotics are in an even worse space though. i agree that we do need more research into unprofitable medicines, but antibiotics especially is really in that realm

[Economy 53,076]

On 2/26/2023 at 7:47 AM, TortureMeOnReplay said:

I'm not completely dismissing the fact that this is scary, but surely medicine in general is advancing quick enough to not need antibiotics the same way we currently do at some point in the not so distant future. 

Medical stuff tends to take many years to make something available to everyone from the point it is developed. I would remain nervous

 

It's like cancer treatments. So much stuff has been developed besides just the standard chemo or radiation for time yet that's what most ppl continue to receive because scaling something new is expensive and so it takes forever

 

There's been research into other stuff besides antibiotics. I actually saw the video @Nemo posted as well like a year ago... But I can guarantee u stuff like that will not be available to the general public anytime in the foreseeable future