Drug-Resistant Bacteria Found in 4-Million-Year-Old Cave

Thanks for sharing this.

This can be extremely dangerous. Someone with a staph or strep infection encounters this bacteria, and the bacteria exchange the immunity - we got real problems. The other thing is do we really want to encounter the mold?? that is driving this evolution. It sounds like one mean mother.

This sounds like a really bad idea.

They're not exchanging immunities- they're firing on each other with their own chemical weapons. Since all these bacteria use them against each other, what the scientists are looking for are weapons we can use to fight off infections we suffer from that are becoming resistant to current antibiotics (such as MRSA).

I got what was either a staph or strep infection on my chin from a shaving comb about 18 months ago. Hideous experience (I could describe it but I won't) and it scared the hell out of me. We need more drugs to fight this bug, and what these people are doing may help in that effort.

Edited to add a quote from the article in post #8:

"which means the subterranean life has existed entirely in the absence of modern medicine."

Uh, people, modern medicine has only existed, well, since modern times. The first person to make any microbe/bacterial advancements was Edward Jenner @1796 and his Smallpox vaccination.

Before this, blood letting and leeches were the norm, at least in the 'enlightened' Western medical communities.

Ancient cave discovery unlocks secrets of superbugs
SHERYL UBELACKER
The Canadian Press
Published Thursday, Apr. 12, 2012 2:48PM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Apr. 12, 2012 3:18PM EDT

Deep inside a cave in New Mexico, researchers have made a startling discovery – bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, yet have been pristinely isolated from human contact for more than four million years.

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics – the infection-killing wonder drugs that began with mass-produced penicillin in the early 1940s – was long thought to have arisen because of wholesale and indiscriminate use of the medications to treat disease in both people and animals.

Over time, more and more disease-causing bacteria, including the superbug MRSA, are becoming immune to most antibiotics now in use. And the growing number of bugs mutating to dodge the killing effects of the drugs has researchers and pharmaceutical companies scrambling to find new agents.

But the discovery of species of naturally resistant bacteria in the Lechuguilla Cave, in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, represents a major leap in the understanding of resistance threatening the treatment of infectious diseases around the world.

More:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/new-health/health-news/ancient-cave-discovery-unlocks-secrets-of-superbugs/article2400159/

Anti-Superbug Clues In Deep, Isolated Cave
Article Date: 12 Apr 2012 - 11:00 PDT

A deep, isolated cave in New Mexico harbors strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that might hold clues for fighting modern-day superbugs. The hope is the discovery means there are previously unknown antibiotics occurring naturally, that could be used to treat infections.

Researchers from McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and the University of Akron, in Akron, Ohio, USA, write about their findings in the 11 April online issue of PLoS ONE.

Resistance to antibiotics among bacteria is givig rise to superbugs like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and a growing concern for human health.

In extreme cases there is no drug that the bacteria are resistant to and the only option left to deal with the infection is surgery.

More:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/244060.php

Makes you wonder what else is down there...

Wright has gone a long way toward proving his thesis.

Not good news for medicine, but knowing is always better than not knowing.