[Navy salad]

[DIYSteve]

Interesting Frontline this week: The Trouble With Antibiotics Right, lots of resistant strains out there, and rate of resistant bugs is accelerating. Consensus among non-Ag industry scientists is that it has been at crisis level for awhile, but, of course, ebola makes for better pop journalism. Just a matter of time before a highly contagious resistant bug comes along and does profound damage. Maybe that'll happen after my lifetime. I don't have kids, would be worried for them if I did. ETA: Cuing the technology-is-the-answer-for-all-problems-including-problems-caused-by-technology pollyanas out there.

[DIYSteve]

[MtnGoat]

This cartoon is intended to disparage perfectly valid concerns by comparing harm from sources which are not communicable diseases with a very high death rate. I choose when to have a shot or a stogie, or a McRib, knowing the risk. No one chooses to get ebola snot from a handrail.

[MtnGoat]

[joker]

I would love to hear a tech answer to antibiotic resistance. Seems like using far less of them is what we've got in the meantime, but that is unfortunately not the trend And yeah, this scares me more than Ebola too. But yeah, the counselor nonetheless has son tricks of rhetoric up his sleeve

[Ski]

interesting article, iron. to clarify: RoundUp = glysophate. patent expired, now manufactured by any number of companies and marketed under various brand names. non-specific herbicide (kills everything.) 2-4-D = broadleaf weed killer (dandelion, chickweed, etc. - everything except grasses). active ingredient in "Weed-B-Gone", among others. one of the most common all-purpose weed killers sold over the counter to homeowners. you know.... Steve may well have a point: I fought a MRSA infection for three years. they threw everything they had at me. finally sent me home with an IV tree and bags of Vancomycin- at the time what they called their "silver bullet". nothing quite like plugging into a central line and feeling like you're cooking from the inside out. good times. I haven't seen the "Frontline" episode Steve cites above, but I've often wondered about what all hell will break loose when the MRSA bugs mutate and their magic "silver bullet" drugs don't work?

[DIYSteve]

[Chief Joseph]

Yet one more reason why we should close our borders and ban immigration completely....yes, I live in a fantasy world, but I like it there.

[fourteen410]

[Chief Joseph]

when airplanes and ships were invented making intercontinental travel possible it was not a good thing imo. this land yes was much better before the immigrants first came here. sure, the native americans raped, pillaged, and killed each other, but at least they did not have the technology capable of raping the land and contaminating the water as we have done. yea, whitey should go back where we came from too...scotland, here i come!

[Ski]

thanks for the link to the "Frontline" episode, BigSteve. scary stuff. brought back some memories. hope I can sleep tonight. I will not be worrying about Ebola.

[PorcupinePhobia]

I'm with you guys in the "I'm not worried" camp, as that has been my MO for a while. What worries me, as a nurse, is not only the fact that two "informed" nurses ended up with the disease (so far as we know), but that the "I'm not worried" attitude has people on quarantine boarding airplanes and dining out. Believe me when I say this is a different animal than SARS, Swine Flu, etc. Are we all going to die? Probably not. Is there a good chance that some unsuspecting folks are going to end up wondering what the hell happened? Yeah. A disease that has a three week non-symptomatic incubation period, an initial presentation similar to flu (in october, no less), and a reeeeally sh##ty survival rate compared to the other "media panic" diseases; that's an actual issue. I'm as media-wary as they come, but in this case I think some good old fashioned fear might benefit the public *reluctantly turns in rainbow socialist card* If you come to the ER, you better wear that g0d@mn mask if we tell you to

[tom roy]

I know from experience that staph infection is a real problem in hospitals in the you United States.nurses chime in after back surgery and knee replacement in the last 3 years I can tell you precautions they take in patients.both times I was given IV vancomycin before during and after surgery. just as a precaution they sent me home the same day after total knee replacement just to avoid me getting staph infection in the hospital. the back surgery was much more complicated and I was in the hospital four days and they darn near isolated me and tried to keep my family away from me as much as possible to avoid infection. and I was on IV vancomycin the whole time I was there at 750 dollars a bag. yes antibiotic resistant infections are a big problem in this country.mersa is the one they really worry about. and before I need dental work take a handful of antibiotics to avoid infection. In the titanium in my shoulder back and knee. it makes me ill every time I go bad enough I have to get my teeth cleaned.

[cairn builder]

I'm pretty sure you can pray the ebola away.