Drug-Resistant Bacteria Often Brought Home From the Hospital by Patients

(NaturalNews) Patients who carry drug-resistant bacteria home after hospital discharge can transmit the infection to their home caretakers, according to a study conducted by researchers from Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital, Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris, and published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

Infection by antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a growing public health threat. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 3.5 million people become infected with MRSA in the United States each year, leading to 90,000 deaths. In particular, "community-acquired" MRSA infections -- those acquired outside of health-care settings -- are of increasing concern to public health officials.

"In the last decade, community-acquired MRSA strains have caused hospital outbreaks and sometimes replaced older strains previously responsible for hospital-acquired MRSA infections," the researchers wrote. "Conversely, hospital-acquired MRSA strains can spread outside the healthcare system."

The study was conducted on 1,501 patients who were discharged from French hospitals into home care between February 2003 and March 2004.

"Patients with major health problems are increasingly discharged to home health care, which creates new opportunities for the transmission of hospital-acquired MRSA," researcher Jean-Christophe Lucet said.

The researchers found that 191 of the discharged patients, or 12.7 percent, were infected with MRSA. While just over half of these patients were able to eliminate their MRSA infections within one year of infection, 19.1 percent of the patients' household contacts also became infected.

None of the infected household contacts developed symptoms of infection, meaning the bacteria were living only in the nose or skin -- where they could be re-transmitted to someone else.

Older patients were more likely to bring MRSA home from the hospital, and elderly contacts were also most likely to acquire the infection. The contacts at highest risk were those providing care to the patients.

"Sharing the same bed or bedroom, in contrast, was not associated with MRSA transmission," the researchers wrote. "Thus, MRSA may be preferentially transmitted to contacts at high risk for hand contamination during care procedures."

They recommended that home health-care providers follow the same sanitation and hygiene practices that are recommended for hospitals.

Sources for this story include: www.reuters.com; www.infectioncontroltoday.com.

High-sugar diet alters intestinal bacteria, making losing weight more difficult

(NaturalNews) A report published in the new journal Science Translational Medicine has made an interesting discovery concerning the relationship between sugar intake and the balance of intestinal flora. Researchers have discovered that a diet high in sugar and fat substantially alters the bacterial composition in the gut, making it difficult to maintain a healthy weight.

Dr. Jeffrey Gordon of Washington University in St. Louis has been accumulating research for years that highlights the role intestinal bacteria plays in regulating bodily weight. Intestinal flora, sometimes called "good" bacteria, is vital for the proper digestion of food and assimilation of nutrients into the blood. When digestive bacteria is out of balance or otherwise altered, the body is unable to convert otherwise indigestible foods into digestible form.

The research, conducted on mice, experimented with implanting various strains of bacteria into mice in order to observe their effects. The two primary divisions of bacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, compose approximately 90 percent of all bacteria. Studies by Dr. Gordon have revealed that Firmicutes bacteria are more efficient at digesting food that the body is unable to digest on its own.

With this in mind, Dr. Gordon decided to experiment with the various bacteria in gnotobiotic mice, or mice which had no bacteria in their intestines because they were raised in a sterile environment. What he found was that gnotobiotic mice who received bacteria from obese mice became obese as well. Similarly, those gnotobiotic mice who received lean-mice bacteria tended more towards leanness.

The same experiment was tried with human intestinal bacteria and similar results were achieved. What also became apparent was that mice who received bacteria from lean human intestines had a much higher proportion of Bacteroidetes than they did Firmicutes.

These mice, who began with a low-fat diet rich in healthy plants, were switched to a high-sugar, high-fat diet following the implant of the lean human bacteria. It was discovered that within 24 hours, the two phyla compositions switched resulting in the Firmicutes bacteria becoming more dominant than the Bacteroidetes bacteria.

This study illustrates the powerful correlation between diet and health in a way that has not typically been studied by researchers. The foundation of bodily health lies in the gut where bacterial colonies are designed to properly route and process nutrients for use in the body. When they get thrown out of balance due to improper diet, the entire body becomes susceptible to all sorts of diseases, including obesity.

Sources for this story include

http://www.latimes.com/features/hea...

Scientists create protein to help probiotics work more effectively

(NaturalNews) Researchers from the Institute of Food Research (IFR), part of the Institute of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Council, have materialized a protein that works with probiotic bacteria to help bind them to the gastrointestinal tract. This breakthrough research will help to further the viability of probiotics and to pinpoint the most beneficial strains for use in the body.

Dr. Nathalie Juge, a researcher from IFR, stated that in order for probiotics to be properly assimilated, they need to be effectively bound to the cells lining the intestinal walls. In order to help accomplish this, her research team derived a protein from the probiotic strain Lactobacillus reuteri, a lactic acid bacterium found naturally in the gastrointestinal tract. The proteins bind themselves to the mucus membrane and assist it by serving as additional catch points for bacterium to reside.

The mucous membranes found naturally in the body's largest immune system organ, the gut, help protect its lining and renew its cells by serving as a native fixation point for bacteria. Prior to the study, it was generally unknown what element was utilized by the mucous to make bacteria stick to it. Research published by IFR and the University of East Anglia in a Journal of Biological Chemistry paper revealed that specialized binding proteins are responsible for this important work.

Vital components of maintaining a healthy immune system, these proteins serve as catalysts for the metabolization of probiotic bacteria. They serve as human immunoglobulin protein receptors as well, indicating their crucial role in maintaining overall immune health.

Sources for this story include:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea...