A fourth report in the US of a patient with a Staph bacteria infection resistant to the antibiotic vancomycin has prompted officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to emphasize their guidelines on preventing the spread of these bacteria. The CDC also reported January 6 that laboratories around the US might not be correctly testing for these antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, which is crucial in preventing their spread.

One bacteria of concern, Staphylococcus aureus, is a common cause of infection in hospitalized patients. In recent years, experts have become very concerned about the increased incidence of strains of the bacteria that fail to succumb to all but a few antibiotics. This is known as antibiotic resistance, and most experts think that it is due to worldwide overuse of antibiotics. As the theory goes, if all the bacteria causing an infection are not eradicated with an antibiotic, then the remaining bacteria become stronger and more resistant to future use of the same antibiotic.

Eventually, this can lead to strains of bacteria that show resistance to antibiotics held in reserve for such cases, such as vancomycin. This raises the specter of infections for which no antibiotic treatment may be available, putting patients' lives at great risk. The CDC reports a case in April 1999, of a 63-year-old woman in an Illinois hospital with a Staph infection. The woman had kidney failure and had already received the antibiotic vancomycin, which should kill most strains of Staphylococcus aureus.

However, after being on vancomycin for 25 days, the physicians found three strains of Staphylococcus resistant to several different antibiotics, including vancomycin. Despite treatment with vancomycin and two other antibiotics, the women died. The hospital screened family members, healthcare workers at the hospital, and other patients at the hospital and found no evidence that the antibiotic-resistant bacteria strains had spread to any of them. The CDC officials note that in response to reports of infections with antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria it is conducting a nationwide search for other cases like the one described here.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2000;48:1165-1171.

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

I first commented on the vancomycin resistant strains of staph three years ago when they were initially documented in Japan. They are spreading and I assure you that you will read more and more about this problem as they continue to spread. The major way to address this problem is to build up your immune system with an optimized diet, which you can find under Read This First at www.mercola.com. I also believe that juicing fresh green vegetables is another important way one can ward off these infections. Related Articles: New Drugs Fight Resistant Bacteria Simple Hand Washing Cuts Drug-Resistant Bacteria AMA Questions Anti-Bacterial Soaps