Last Minute Survival continues to track and follow the emerging threat of anti-biotic resistant strains of bacteria. For months now we have been monitoring this development, but it wasn’t until recently that the major media outlets have begun running the story. Just as LMS warned in previous articles http://www.lastminutesurvival.com/2013/02/27/emergence-of-extensively-drug-resistant-tuberculosis-threatens-to-turn-cities-into-deathtraps/, the danger of superbugs reaching the point of becoming untreatable will soon become a reality according to the Centers for Disease.
Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a news conference: “It’s not often that our scientists come to me and say we have a very serious problem and we need to sound an alarm. But that’s exactly what we are doing today. Our strongest antibiotics don’t work, and patients are left with potentially untreatable infections.” The statement is indeed ominous given the authority of the source. Even worse, resistant bacteria “can spread the genes that destroy our last antibiotics to other bacteria, such as E. coli, and make E. coli resistant to antibiotics also,” according to Frieden.
Based on the facts provided by the CDC, you must begin to sound the alarm bells. The CDC’s director could not have been more frank in his statements about the dangers of resistant bacteria. In effect, these resistant “superbugs” will soon turn once easily treatable conditions such as a sinus infection, abscessed tooth, urinary tract infection, or bronchitis into an untreatable and often fatal condition. Many venereal diseases such as gonorrhea have already achieved near resistant status and now have the potential to become “incurable.” Further, resistant strains of diseases such as Tuberculosis have the potential to become global menaces and wipe out literally millions of people and make living in urban, densely populated centers suicide. This evolution in diseases has already begun to affect and kill Americans. Soon, within our lifetimes, it will grow in seriousness to the degree that quarantine will again be necessary, mass transit will need to screen for illnesses and not terrorists, and simple infections will once again rob millions of life.
LMS analysts have spoken to various health care providers and assess the current risk as moderate within the United States. However, if one deals regularly with individuals on “skid row” such as homeless, immigrants, or works in hospitals, the potential to acquire a resistant strain of a superbug dramatically increases. Further, if you travel outside of the United States and have close contact with individuals in developing nations experiencing high rates of resistant bacterial diseases such as Tuberculosis, you should speak with a doctor and to take appropriate steps to protect yourself. As the threat from resistant diseases increase, one can protect themselves by practicing good hygiene to include vigorous and regular hand washing, safe sex, and a general avoidance of high risk groups. To provide your family the best long term protection, it may be necessary to eventually move out of any densely populated areas; especially those areas with large immigrant populations. Note, it is not the intent of this article to spread xenophobic rhetoric, but to inform. In respect to this, the primary breeding ground for resistant bacteria is outside of the United States. Therefore, one of the primary vectors of these diseases entering the United States is by person to person contact and transfer.
By Guiles Hendrik
