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“There are multiple worst-case scenarios,” said Dr. Klemm. “One is that this strain spreads to other regions through migration. But the other is that it pops up

“There are multiple worst-case scenarios,” said Dr. Klemm. “One is that this strain spreads to other regions through migration. But the other is that it pops up elsewhere on its own — plasmids with drug resistance are everywhere.” This is a terrifying statement, and implies that whatever we do to combat this will not be enough. It would be so stupid if it took a global pandemic of XDR Typhoid to start changing things around abuse or antibiotics in livestock and humans. Actually, I wonder if that would actually lead to change? I would have thought so when I was younger, but now I think deaths might not move the kinds of people pumping livestock with drugs we need to live. It’s just so frustrating! Life without antibiotics would be a nightmare, hospitals would become charnel houses again, and we’d have to be terrified of every cut and scrape. All for cheap dairy, eggs, and milk?

sho 9y ago
> a global pandemic of XDR Typhoid Well, it's not going to happen in developed countries; typhoid is spread by contaminated water, like sewers getting into water mains. There's a reason you've probably never heard of anyone getting typhoid, or cholera. If it was TB though - that could be a legitimate global disaster for everyone. Hell, some countries curtailed air travel for SARS, and that was treatable! edit: duh, flu is not a bacteria. Replaced with TB
- cfadvan 9y ago
  It could hit South/Central America, And Mexico, chunks of Eastern Europe, China, it could devastate India, and while the US and Western Europe might not suffer much directly, that would still be a global pandemic. Even if you dont care about people with bad plumbing, you’d still care about the economic impacts. All told, this is bad news, and kind of like finding all of the canaries dead in the mine Incidentally while I agree that another pandemic, lethal,influenza strain would be terrible, it’s a totally different and unrelated issue. Influenza is a virus, so antibiotic resistance isn’t a factor. It is true that some agricultural practices do contribute to mutations and spread of influenza, but ironically not the ones most associated with abuse of antibiotics.
  - sho 9y ago
    Would probably be India or Indonesia with the highest body count. That's 1.5 billion people! Didn't mean to imply I don't care about people with bad plumbing. Yep I meant tuberculosis. Thanks for the correction. Time for bed..
- throwaway2048 9y ago
  influenza is a virus, it has nothing to do with antibiotics
  - sho 9y ago
    Duh. Meant to type TB. Will fix, thanks
ianai 9y ago
As a vegan, screw all of you. More seriously, I think it takes a lot to move society. Historians say that while people will give different reasons for wide rebellions, the reasons are always scarce resources becoming absent. Ie it might actually take an outbreak killing hundreds of millions to get global change.
- candiodari 9y ago
  Heh - that's funny. First: veganism does not protect against the vast majority of diseases. There's only a few. Furthermore, vegans are famous in medicine for developing weird diseases. How ? They forget, in their diet, something essential, which often first results in reduced immune response, which results in a weird infection, which results in severe symptoms. And to add a cherry on that cake: when you start being vegan there are many things you can do without for years, so you can't easily compensate for it: the actual problem occurs many months to years after going vegan, and occurs very suddenly. Vegan patients are also famous for not believing the diagnosis, and after specific pills fix the problems, they get released, start the same vegan regimen again, and have the same problem again months later, only usually worse. Also, about screwing ... you realize this means that in 10 years or so screwing, having sex with multiple partners, will be like Russian roulette, right ? Almost all diseases are sexually transmittable and if a few dozen of the easier to transmit ones become incurable ...
  - maxerickson 9y ago
    They are talking about the use of antibiotics in livestock accelerating resistance.
    - himom 9y ago
      Antibiotics combined with people and animals concentrated in confined areas are extremely bad ideas for both pandemic evolution and antibiotic-resistance.
  - philipkglass 9y ago
    Antibiotics used in animal agriculture dwarf the quantities directly used to treat humans. I didn't read ianai as saying that veganism protects against disease, but saying "screw you" to livestock producers and their customers, who are risking these lifesaving drugs' efficacy in pursuit of lower-cost food from animals.

sho 9y ago

> a global pandemic of XDR Typhoid Well, it's not going to happen in developed countries; typhoid is spread by contaminated water, like sewers getting into water mains. There's a reason you've probably never heard of anyone getting typhoid, or cholera. If it was TB though - that could be a legitimate global disaster for everyone. Hell, some countries curtailed air travel for SARS, and that was treatable! edit: duh, flu is not a bacteria. Replaced with TB

cfadvan 9y ago
It could hit South/Central America, And Mexico, chunks of Eastern Europe, China, it could devastate India, and while the US and Western Europe might not suffer much directly, that would still be a global pandemic. Even if you dont care about people with bad plumbing, you’d still care about the economic impacts. All told, this is bad news, and kind of like finding all of the canaries dead in the mine Incidentally while I agree that another pandemic, lethal,influenza strain would be terrible, it’s a totally different and unrelated issue. Influenza is a virus, so antibiotic resistance isn’t a factor. It is true that some agricultural practices do contribute to mutations and spread of influenza, but ironically not the ones most associated with abuse of antibiotics.
- sho 9y ago
  Would probably be India or Indonesia with the highest body count. That's 1.5 billion people! Didn't mean to imply I don't care about people with bad plumbing. Yep I meant tuberculosis. Thanks for the correction. Time for bed..
throwaway2048 9y ago
influenza is a virus, it has nothing to do with antibiotics
- sho 9y ago
  Duh. Meant to type TB. Will fix, thanks

ianai 9y ago

As a vegan, screw all of you. More seriously, I think it takes a lot to move society. Historians say that while people will give different reasons for wide rebellions, the reasons are always scarce resources becoming absent. Ie it might actually take an outbreak killing hundreds of millions to get global change.

candiodari 9y ago
Heh - that's funny. First: veganism does not protect against the vast majority of diseases. There's only a few. Furthermore, vegans are famous in medicine for developing weird diseases. How ? They forget, in their diet, something essential, which often first results in reduced immune response, which results in a weird infection, which results in severe symptoms. And to add a cherry on that cake: when you start being vegan there are many things you can do without for years, so you can't easily compensate for it: the actual problem occurs many months to years after going vegan, and occurs very suddenly. Vegan patients are also famous for not believing the diagnosis, and after specific pills fix the problems, they get released, start the same vegan regimen again, and have the same problem again months later, only usually worse. Also, about screwing ... you realize this means that in 10 years or so screwing, having sex with multiple partners, will be like Russian roulette, right ? Almost all diseases are sexually transmittable and if a few dozen of the easier to transmit ones become incurable ...
- maxerickson 9y ago
  They are talking about the use of antibiotics in livestock accelerating resistance.
  - himom 9y ago
    Antibiotics combined with people and animals concentrated in confined areas are extremely bad ideas for both pandemic evolution and antibiotic-resistance.
- philipkglass 9y ago
  Antibiotics used in animal agriculture dwarf the quantities directly used to treat humans. I didn't read ianai as saying that veganism protects against disease, but saying "screw you" to livestock producers and their customers, who are risking these lifesaving drugs' efficacy in pursuit of lower-cost food from animals.