MDR Bubonic Plague Strain Discovered In Madagascar - May Be Tied To Antibiotics In Livestock - AFP

[hatrack]

The ability to resist many of the antibiotics used against plague has been found so far in only a single case of the disease in Madagascar. But because the same ability is present in other kinds of bacteria from a broad range of livestock, antibiotic resistance could potentially spread to other Y. pestis and also other bacterial pathogens. In a paper published March 21 in the new journal PLoS ONE, the authors say this possibility "represents a significant public health concern."

Genetic ability to disable antibiotics, including multidrug resistance (MDR) sequences, is carried on plasmids, small circles of DNA that are passed easily between bacteria. In this study, the same MDR plasmids found in the Y. pestis from Madagascar were also present in bacteria such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli found in retail samples of beef, pork, chicken, and turkey from several US states.

"What we've done is revealed a mechanism for the acquisition of multidrug resistance in Y. pestis. Obviously, this is an event that might have serious human health consequences. But the sequencing work we've done has given us a way to monitor this plasmid in future," says senior author Jacques Ravel of The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in Rockville, MD.

"The fact that we found a plasmid usually found in Salmonella in Y. pestis is a big problem. It also raises a question about how this happened, how it went from one to the other. But that's a question we cannot answer in this paper," Ravel notes. He urges a new monitoring program to track MDR in Y. pestis. MDR Salmonella and E. coli have been found in droppings from wild geese, raising the possibility that wild animals might be able to spread MDR far beyond the livestock where it originated, Ravel notes.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Antibiotic_Resistance_In_Plague_999.html

[phantom power]

1. I hate the way that bacteria swap genes.

Well, actually I only hate the way that they swap genes that are disagreeable to me. Like MDR genes.

If only they needed our permission.

[kestrel91316]

2. Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit

We are in a plague endemic area here. A vet died 25 years ago after catching pneumonic plague from a ground squirrel brought to his hospital.

We NEED our plague bug to stay susceptible to antibiotics. There is no other defense against it.

[Olney Blue]

3. This is bad news.

[tblue37]

4. That refers to the case that was found in 1998. I have an

article on my Out of the Blue website entitled "Bubonic Plague: Yesterday's Scourge--and Tomorrow's?" that you might want to read:
http://www.salvoblue.homestead.com/plague.html
There are many scary aspects to the plague as a possible scourge for our future--not just the MDR element. We might well be poised on the edge of another pandemic.

[tblue37]

5. Oh, and K & R. This has been one of my hobbyhorse topics for a while. (eom)