[red]When reading this, keep in mind that (1) fluoroquinolones are an absolutely critical antibiotic -- they are one of exactly three classes of antibiotics that can treat several types of infections, and (2) one reason for the increasing resistance is that Bayer AG insists on dumping the damn things into as much chicken feed as it possibly can, to make a tiny amount of additional profit, despite strong recommendations that the use of fluoroquinolones in animal feed be halted precisely because it is causing resistance to develop.[/red]

[url]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020520/hl_nm/cipro_resistance_1[/url]

SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters Health) - Resistance to the antibiotic ciprofloxacin has shown an "alarming" increase among patients at one of the western United States' largest rehabilitation facilities, a study released Monday shows.

From 1997 to 2001, resistance to Cipro among E. coli bacteria samples taken from spinal cord injury patients rose from 13% to 33%, Dr. Hanna Canawati and Donald Dunn of the Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey, California, found.

While resistance to Cipro and other drugs in its class, known as fluoroquinolones, was seen in Europe, China and parts of South America beginning in 1990, the researchers note, it remained uncommon in the US through the mid-1990s. And similar sharp increases in Cipro resistance have not been seen elsewhere in Los Angeles County.

... more at the URL ...
[url]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020520/hl_nm/cipro_resistance_1[/url]

[red]Gosh, I wonder why resistance is increasing??  Could it be . . . abuse of antibiotics by agribusiness?![/red]

[url]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020521/hl_nm/chicken_bacteria_1[/url]

SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters Health) - Most raw chicken on grocery store shelves is contaminated with at least some fecal bacteria, according to the results of an Alabama study presented here Monday.

[b]And most of these bacteria--many of which can make people sick--showed resistance to antibiotics commonly used to treat human illness,[/b] Sulaiman G. Gbadamosi and M. Edith Powell of Tuskegee University in Alabama report. They presented their findings at the American Society for Microbiology's annual meeting.

... more at the URL ...
[url]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020521/hl_nm/chicken_bacteria_1[/url]

it was about 10 years ago in high school, but i once played against an intramural hocky team named "zyklon b". i don't think any of their teachers or administrators knew what it was.

Very interesting article.  Interesting, and very scary.

I just want to mention that another of the main reasons for increasing bacterial resistance to our newest generation abics is over-prescription.  Many people who cough or fart sideways in today's world want to run to their physician and take a pill that will make everything better.

People must realize that if you have a virus, an antibiotic won't do a G-damn thing to make you feel better.  Anti-viral drugs, you guessed it-to treat viral infections, are generally pretty toxic to the patients system and so are not normally prescribed to otherwise healthy patients.

For most normal colds and flus, people need to ride it out.  Sheeple have got to wake up to the fact that if abics continue to be overprescribed and used in agriculture unnecessarily, we will no longer have any effective drugs to combat many pathogens.