Category Archives: NDM-1

It Sucks To Be This Patient: The Seven CPO Edition

Posted on September 14, 2016 by mikethemadbiologist

It really does for this New Zealand (‘NZ’) patient (boldface mine): Here, we report the isolation of seven distinct CPO [carbapenemase producing organisms–resistant to the last line beta-lactam antibiotics], together with an ESBL-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus mirabilis with an … Continue reading →

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Bacterial Whole Genome Sequencing And The Clinic: The Future Is Almost Here

Posted on August 30, 2016 by mikethemadbiologist

I heard this talk almost a year ago*, so I’m glad this paper is finally out (I’ll translate into English below; boldface mine): The increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria is a serious global challenge. Here, we studied prospectively whether … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, E. coli, Genomics, KPC, MRSA, NDM-1, Public Health | 1 Comment

Carbapenem-Resistant Organisms Are Prevalent in Bangladeshi Environmental Samples–This Is Really Bad

Posted on May 1, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

We’re not going to be able to contain this (boldface mine): Carriage of the New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase variant 1 (NDM-1) enables drug resistance to move between communities and hospitals. In Bangladesh, we found the blaNDM-1 gene in 62% of environmental … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, E. coli, NDM-1, Public Health | 3 Comments

So Let’s Say We Find a ‘Superbug’ In the Food Supply…

Posted on March 3, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

…now what? When I’m not blogging or fighting crime, one of the things I do is worry (along with some science!) about the spread of antibiotic resistance. The U.S. government has several programs that monitor the spread of antibiotic resistance, … Continue reading →

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It’s Not Just Medical Tourism, But Regular Ol’ Tourism That Can Lead to Antibiotic Resistance

Posted on April 15, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

One of the many things that bugs me (pun intended) is the suggestion that medical tourism, where people travel to other countries for lower-cost procedures, should be seriously considered as a solution to the U.S.’s inability to provide affordable healthcare. … Continue reading →

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When Carbapenem Resistance Is Sneaky

Posted on March 27, 2013 by mikethemadbiologist

Because what we really need are more ways to have carbapenem resistant enterobacteriaceae (‘CRE’), which are bacteria resistant to all penicillin derivatives–and almost always resistant to just about every other antibiotic. While the two ‘famous’ types of carbapenem resistance genes, … Continue reading →

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The Healthcare Crisis Is Still Not Budgetary: Once More Unto the CRE Breach

Posted on March 7, 2013 by mikethemadbiologist

One of the most frustrating things about the whole fixation on deficits and budgets is that it ignores the real crises we face, such as carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (E. coli and relatives that are resistant to virtually all antibiotic therapy): This … Continue reading →

Posted in Fucking Morons, I For One Welcome Our Austerity Overlords, KPC, Microbiology, NDM-1, Public Health, We're Really Fucked | 1 Comment

Why Medical Tourism Is a Really Dangerous Idea: The CRE Edition

Posted on December 27, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

I’m usually a big fan of economist Dean Baker. Since the mid-1990s, he has been debunking much of the Social Security and Medicare misinformation pumped out by conservative faith-tanks; he was also one of the few and first people to … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, Healthcare, KPC, NDM-1, Public Health | 4 Comments

Healthcare Is Not the Same As Healthcare Budgeting: The CREs Are Going to Kill Us All Edition

Posted on December 3, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

Every so often, I blog about CRE, which is short for carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (E. coli and relatives). CREs are resistant to just about every antibiotic (the two drugs commonly used, colistin and tigecycline, cause renal failure or are used off-label … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, E. coli, Fucking Morons, Healthcare, I For One Welcome Our Austerity Overlords, KPC, NDM-1 | 4 Comments

Two Disturbing Carbapenem-Resistance Observations

Posted on October 23, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

I’ve discussed before the serious problem of carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (‘CRE’): these are common disease-causing bacteria that have evolved resistance to all penicillin derivatives, and usually are resistant to all other commonly used antibiotics* (and in some cases, every antibiotic). So … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, Evolution, KPC, NDM-1, Public Health | 1 Comment