Comments on: Gut Infections are Killing the Elderly at Frightening Rates

By: Simon

Simon — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 19:56:01 +0000

Nobody said anything about current food, that is, preserved products, sweets full of chemicals, etc. And I think this is one of the main reasons (together with medicine drugs) that makes immune systems overload and finally pathogenic bacteria, just like the one described in this paper, causes diseases first among alters. However, nowadays even young people are under great threat of this kind of modern-food causing diseases.

By: Gordon chamberlain

Gordon chamberlain — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 03:00:12 +0000

Antibiotics are also massively used in animal factory farms and as a result I believe have been implicated in drug resistant MRSA

By: blueash

blueash — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:29:59 +0000

The NYT statistic is wrong. The frequency of community acquired (not in hospital or nursing home) C diff is rapidly increasing and has reached over 30% already. It is everywhere. Like MRSA it started as a hospital bug, so did C diff. and neither stayed there. http://www.nature.com/ajg/journal/v107/n1/abs/ajg2011404a.html
Wash your hands and Don’t take antibiotics for your viral sinus and chest infections

By: Pippa

Pippa — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 10:26:37 +0000

We have a higher proportion of elderly people now – - – though that does not account for all of the rise in deaths.
We don’t test health care workers to screen out carriers, and with good reason. I suspect that a high proportion of them, and their families, are carriers. There would be no-one left to work!

By: ex - Mormon missionary

ex - Mormon missionary — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 05:44:34 +0000

Yes keep prescribing those antibiotics left and right and soon enough these bugs will be the last thing to worry about

By: reevesAstronomy

reevesAstronomy — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 05:27:15 +0000

@Carol – Antibiotics are definitely not good for the bacteria in our guts and probiotics (as in the case of the probiotic yogurts and such) may actually be counter-productive as well. They have a tendency to replace the diverse gut flora with single species of bacterium.

By: Concerned1

Concerned1 — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:36:33 +0000

Since doctors are already aware, along with hospitals and nursing homes, of the problem growing, their non-compliance with cleanliness protocols ought to rightfully be addressed in the civil courts with increased damages in the event event of terminal health issues. Further, by disregarding or neglecting protocol, their actions may be prosecuted criminally under a myriad of laws broken. Our health system isn’t broken so much as the patients families are told to not prosecute, as the death involved is portryaed as their loved ones ” time to die”. Neglegince is negligence, and determined negligence is still a homicide.

The fault may be partly with the non compliance with rpotocol, but it is more pertinetly that of the legal system to jail negligent doctors, and sue them for every dime. A compliant doctor has no need to fear the law, but a negligent one needs to face his or her day in court.

By: Redshift

Redshift — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 11:23:14 +0000

The article doesn’t say anything about (insert politically charged topic I disagree with here), therefore that must be the problem

By: Carol

Carol — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:45:22 +0000

How about too many antibiotics killing off good gut bacteria and not enough probiotics replenishing them?

By: Jay Fox

Jay Fox — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 19:08:11 +0000

Is there any connection between this problem and the GM food-like products that are leaving traces of Bt toxin and glyphosphate in people’s bloodstreams? The article does not state if this is a worldwide problem, or just here in the US and Canada. The timing seems suspicious.