Drug-resistant infections kill more Americans than AIDS and breast
cancer combined. Technology companies are working hard to battle these
micro-organisms. At this time the SUPERBUGS are winning.
Staphyloccus
aureus
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
Premier pathogen causes 102,000 hospital
infections
a year. Outside medical centers, a virulent new version
hits kids,
sports teams and healthy adults. Some die
in days.
Clostridium difficile
Causes 400,000 cases of
diarrhea annually. A new
mutation produces 20 times the toxin of the old
version. In a recent outbreak in Quebec, it infected
,703 patients; 33 had to have colon
removed, 117
people died.
Klebsiella pneumoniae
Hospital-borne bug can infect the urinary tract,
gut
and bloodstream. Resistant cases are up almost
50% in five years; untreated,
two-thirds of patients die.
One outbreak in New York overwhelmed virtually all
drugs.Sources:
CDC; Infectious Diseases Society
of America; American Association of Family
Medicine
Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE)
Especially hardy,
infects the blood, urinary tract and
wounds of patients with withering immune
systems.
Causes 10% of hospital infections.Sources: CDC;
Infectious Diseases
Society of America; American
Association of Family Medicine.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Causes deadly
lower-respiratory infections in sick
patients. Is masterful at developing
resistance mechanisms.
Responsible for 18% of hospital-acquired pneumonia.Sources:
CDC; Infectious Diseases Society of America; American
Association of Family Medicine.
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