Why Antibacterial Soap Is Dangerous

ORIGINAL: Google+ / Discovery

Jessica Meyer

Antibacterial equals safe, right? Think again. New research suggests that a particular ingredient common in antibacterial products is actually quite dangerous. Trace has all the details on Triclosan and what the FDA is aiming to do about it.

Decades-Old Question: Is Antibacterial Soap Safe?
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_LIQUID_SOAP_SAFETY

"It's a chemical that's been in U.S. households for more than 40 years, from the body wash in your bathroom shower to the knives on your kitchen counter to the bedding in your baby's basinet."

Triclosan Facts

http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsheets/triclosan_fs.htm

"Triclosan (2,4,4' --trichloro-2'-hydroxydiphenyl ether) is a chlorinated aromatic compound. Its functional groups include both phenols and ethers. It is used as a synthetic broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent."

Triclosan: What Consumers Should Know

http://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/consumerupdates/ucm205999.htm

"Triclosan is an ingredient added to many consumer products to reduce or prevent bacterial contamination."

Are Anti-Bacterial Soaps Poisoning Our Water?
http://news.discovery.com/earth/anti-bacterial-soaps-dioxins.htm

"A common chemical found in antibacterial soaps is turning up in lakes and streams and could potentially harm wildlife and human health."

Should I Avoid Products That Contain Triclosan?
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/triclosan/AN02141 "There currently isn't enough evidence to recommend avoiding use of products that contain triclosan — an ingredient added to certain soaps, cosmetics, clothing, cookware, furniture and toys to reduce or prevent bacterial contamination."

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Emerging Superbug Requires Urgent Action, CDC Says

ORIGINAL: Live Science 

Rachael Rettner, MyHealthNewsDaily Staff Writer
05 March 2013

CREDIT: Dreamstime

An emerging superbug is infecting an increasing number of people in the United States, and health officials are calling for urgent action to stop its spread.

During the first six months of 2012, nearly 200 hospitals and long-term acute care facilities together treated at least one person who had been infected by the superbug, known as Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The bacteria is resistant to a class of antibiotics known as carbapenem, powerful drugs that are typically used as a last resort to treat resistant bacterial infections, thus the origin of the superbug's name.

CRE can cause pneumonia and blood and urinary tract infections. CRE infections are still rare, and so far, nearly all cases have been seen in people who've had long-term care in hospitals, nursing homes or other healthcare facilities. But once a person becomes ill, the disease can be lethal, killing up to half of people who develop serious infections, the CDC said.

"CRE are nightmare bacteria. Our strongest antibiotics don’t work and patients are left with potentially untreatable infections," said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC. Doctors, hospitals and public health officials must work together to implement strategies to stop CRE's spread, Frieden said.

Enterobacteriaceae are a family of bacteria that include E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, and typically live in the digestive tract, but can cause infections if they spread outside the gut, the CDC said. Over time, some of these bacteria have developed resistance to carbapenems.

CRE were first identified in the U.S. in 2001, and have now spread to 42 states. The new report, which examined U.S. health care infections, found that the percentage of Enterobacteriaceae that are resistant to carbapenems has increased fourfold during the last decade.

In 2012, 4.6 percent of hospitals and 18 percent of long-term acute care facilities, reported having a patient with a CRE infection, the CDC report said.

Healthy people don't usually develop CRE infections. People most at risk for infection are those whose care requires devices such as a ventilator or catheter, and who require a long course of antibiotics, the CDC said.

Hospital workers who don't properly wash their hands can spread the bacteria between patients, and the bacteria themselves can spread resistance to other similar bacteria.

Unlike methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), CRE hasn't spread into the community, Frieden said.

"That's really a message of hope: we still have a window of opportunity to stop it" before it becomes as prevalent as other antibiotic-resistant organisms like MRSA, Frieden said.

In 2012, the CDC created guidelines for preventing CRE infections in hospitals and other care facilities. These include following proper hand hygiene recommendations (hand-washing); grouping patients together who have CRE; dedicating certain staff members and equipment to people who have CRE; knowing which patients in a hospital have CRE and alerting other health care facilities about the infection if the patient is transferred; and using antibiotics wisely.

Facilities that have implemented these measures have seen a drop in their CRE infection rates, Frieden said.

Patients can also play a role in prevention. For instance, if they have a catheter put in, they can ask how long it will be in place, and ask that it be removed as soon as possible, Frieden said.

Continued research into tests to detect CRE, and ways to treat it, is critical as well, Frieden said. The report will be published this week in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Pass it on: Urgent action is needed to prevent the spread of CRE infections, which are resistant to most antibiotics.

This story was provided by MyHealthNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow Rachael Rettner on Twitter @RachaelRettner, or MyHealthNewsDaily @MyHealth_MHND. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

Breakthrough could lead to drugs that better combat 'superbugs'

ORIGINAL: Argonne National Lab

BY JEN SALAZAR

February 28, 2013

NDM-1, present in a number of pathogenic bacteria, including Klebsiella pneumonia and Escherichia coli, is able to defeat many of the world’s most widely used antibiotics, including penicillin derivatives, cephalosporins, monobactams and carbapenems.

LEMONT, Ill. – In the never-ending battle between antibiotic developers and the bacteria they fight, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have made a key breakthrough that could allow for the development of new drugs to more effectively combat antibiotic-resistant “superbugs.”

An Argonne team led by Youngchang Kim of the Structural Biology Center, in collaboration with researchers from the Midwest Center for Structural Genomics, the University of Texas-Pan American and Texas A&M University, recently determined the structure of NDM-1, a harmful enzyme able to overcome several antibiotics. The team used a combination of X-ray crystallography at Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source (APS), biochemical assays, and computational modeling using resources at two Texas universities.

Structure of NDM-1 in complex with two cadmium ions and ampicillin. The intermediate (int-amp) is superposed with the modeled unhydrolyzed ampicillin (yellow).

NDM-1, present in a number of pathogenic bacteria, including Klebsiella pneumonia and Escherichia coli, is able to defeat many of the world’s most widely used antibiotics, including penicillin derivatives, cephalosporins, monobactams and carbapenems. The enzyme works by effectively binding to and breaking – in a process known as hydrolysis – a structure called a β-lactam ring, which is necessary for antibiotics to function.

The traditional view of enzymes, particularly those most essential for the bacteria to survive, is that they have a very specific substrate (or target – in this case the antibiotic) to bind and act on, and they interact with this target directly by forming a well-fitted lock-and-key-like complex. However NDM-1, and others like it, can act on a broad range of substrates.

“These kinds of enzymes can recognize many different targets,” said Andrzej Joachimiak, head of Argonne’s Structural Biology Center and the Midwest Center for Structural Genomics.

“The appearance of NDM-1 among pathogenic bacteria represents a major concern because the enzyme can inactivate so many of the antibiotics that we use to treat infections,” said Charles Edmonds of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences, which partially supported the study. “This work, by providing a detailed understanding of the structure of the enzyme and its mechanism of action, brings an invaluable tool to the design of new drugs to combat this significant threat to public health.”

The act of NDM-1 binding to the antibiotic, however, does not represent the entire story, because for the enzyme to effectively overcome the antibiotic, it must also cleave the β-lactam ring. The researchers found that certain metals, including zinc, manganese and cadmium, can bind to the NDM-1 active site – and to the β-lactam ring. While zinc provides the most favorable environment for cleavage to occur, cadmium tends to inhibit the enzyme’s ability to cleave the ring.

“The next step in the research is to look for inhibitors that we can create that would block the functioning of the enzyme,” Joachimiak said. “If we can stop the enzyme from cutting the ring, the antibiotics stand a much better chance of staying effective.”

The results of the research were recently published in The FASEB Journal in an article titled “NDM-1, the ultimate promiscuous enzyme: substrate recognition and catalytic mechanism.”

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. The APS and the Argonne Structural Biology Center are supported by DOE’s Office of Science, while the Argonne Midwest Center for Structural Genomics is supported by the National Institutes of Health. The researchers also used computational resources at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas-Pan American.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.- See more at: http://www.anl.gov/articles/breakthrough-could-lead-drugs-better-combat-superbugs#sthash.exRUc0SD.dpuf

The Rise of Superbugs Called 'Apocalyptic Scenario'

ORIGINAL: LiveScience

Marc Lallanilla, Life's Little Mysteries Assistant Editor

Date: 25 January 2013 Time: 09:17 AM ET

Staphylococcus aureus is just one of many antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" that have health officials alarmed. CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons

A prominent British health official has declared the rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs so grave a threat that the world is now facing an "apocalyptic scenario" in which people die of routine infections.

Dame Sally Davies, the U.K.'s chief medical officer (a role equivalent to the U.S. surgeon general), warned Parliament that contagious antibiotic-resistant disease is an imminent crisis and should be included on the government's official register of possible national emergencies, right next to terrorist attacks and natural disasters, according to the Guardian.

Superbugs are disease-causing bacteria that have evolved to have defenses against antibiotic drugs. Over the years, some strains of bacteria have become so robust they resist almost every weapon in our drug armamentarium.

"There are few public health issues of potentially greater importance for society than antibiotic resistance," Davies told the Guardian. And she pulled no punches when speaking to Parliament: "We need to get our act together in this country," the Guardian quoted her as saying.

Davies is hardly the first to sound the alarm on the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections. "It certainly would — and has — resulted in a much greater risk of dying of infection," Dr. Brad Spellberg, assistant professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, told LiveScience. [5 Ways Computers Boost Drug Discovery]

"We already are seeing infections that are untreatable," Spellberg said. Besides the rising threats of antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis and gonorrhea, he cited three bacterial infections of particular concern: Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa andKlebsiella pneumonia.

Each of these bacteria can cause a number of infectious diseases, including pneumonia, septicemia and urinary tract infections. In the case of Klebsiella, Spellberg noted, there's just one highly toxic drug left, and it's effective only about half the time it's used.

It's equally alarming that antibiotic drug development is at a virtual standstill, he said. "The pipeline is barren," partly because pharmaceutical companies have few incentives for developing antibiotics that people take for just a few days or weeks, Spellberg said.

Instead, drugmakers focus on research into drugs that are taken for years to treat chronic conditions like arthritis or heart disease. Davies told Parliament, "There is a broken market model for making new antibiotics."

While Spellberg is careful to add some perspective to the issue – "I don't think we should be alarmist" – he emphasizes that a "massive crisis" is looming if we leave unaddressed the continued rise in antibiotic-resistant superbugs, since it could result in a "catastrophic drop in quality of life."

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