"Killer Flu" Emerging On Both Sides of the Pacific

mallorean writes "The spread of SARS ( Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ) worldwide is just about making the headlines. The WHO has issued an advisory. American Scientist had two very timely articles relevant to SARS in the current issue. The first is about the rapidly growing antibiotic resistance in bacterial diseases and the origin and possible sources of this resistance. The second article talks about Type A Influenza and the possibility of a world pandemic similar to the 1918 Global Flu Pandemic. The transmittable nature of SARS, the lack of epidemological information and its severe resistance to antibiotics seems tailor made to fit the scenario outlined in the second article ( it even originated in the far east and is a strain of avian flu )." Read below for a related link.

jake-in-a-box points to a New York Times article which says that the illness "has affected hundreds in China and Southeast Asia, and now spread to Vancouver, BC. It does not respond to antibiotics or antivirals and apparently nobody has fully recovered yet. Transmission appears to be via aerosol droplets - coughs, sneezes etc."

Comments

Virus vs antibiotics

[Anonymous Coward]

Er, the Flu is a virus, and antibiotics only work against microrganisms and bacteria, therefore it's not suprising that the flu is totally unaffected by antibiotics.

Duh.

Re:Virus vs antibiotics

[KDan]

They don't know whether it's a virus yet (according to most of the accounts I've read, findable on Google News).

Daniel

Re:Virus vs antibiotics

[spotted_dolphin]

antibiotics are important to pneumonia
Antibiotics would only be effect against bacterial pneumonia. There are some cases where pneumonia is thought to be caused by viruses.
http://www.lungusa.org/diseases/lungpneumoni.html# viral

Difference between this and other diseases?

[stefanlasiewski]

What's the difference between this latest outbreak and any other outbreak?

These articles talk about a strain influenza virus (and then they talk about a second disease) which is spreading to dozens of countries and which has killed hundreds of people in Asia. WHO issued an advisory. The deaths are tragic, but these happenings don't seem very unusual to me. Thousands of people die from influenza every year, WHO issues advisories every year, viruses spread every year.

So how is this new disease different? I couldn't get a good sense from the articles.

Is this just hype? Perhaps now that we're on the verge of war, and many folks (at least here in the US) are scared of a biological attack. Perhaps that fear is just contributing to the hype?

Re:Difference between this and other diseases?

[allism]

Actually, an article posted a little further down from here says that one person has recovered. Here's the link.

Not that I'm getting my hopes up over one person, but maybe the 'no one has recovered' is media hype.

Re:Antibiotics are not for viral infections

[kmellis]

This isn't influenza, as far as they know. They haven't identified a pathogen. They don't know whether its a bacteria or virus. I repeat: they don't know what this is. They'll naturally try both antibiotics and antivirals until they figure it out.

SARS is acting like an airborne pathogen, which is scary.

The flu/pneumonia and anti-biotics

[Anonymous Coward]

My mom died from a case of the flu that turned into pneumonia in 1995. Anti-biotics *are* relevant to flu viruses, because the flu can ofter turn into pneumonia through a weakened immune system. That is why it is so important for people to take anti-biotics sparingly and only when absolutely necessary. When the doctor gives you them please take *all* of them and please do not use anti-biotic soap or any of those kinds of products.

Re:The flu/pneumonia and anti-biotics

[cmburns69]

Antibiotic soap is really not the problem most people think it is. Its antibiotic properties work on completely different principles than the antibiotics your doctor gives you.

If everybody uses these topical antibiotics, they will become less effective and eventually completely non-effective, but it will not affect the potency of your doctors penicillin.

An online Starcraft RPG? Only at

Re:The flu/pneumonia and anti-biotics

[X-rated Ouroboros]

please do not use anti-biotic soap or any of those kinds of products.

Not to imply that the AC made this mistake, but don't confuse "Anti-Bacterial" with "Anti-Biotic". Soap is naturally antibacterial, so having this on the label is right up there with selling water by trumping up the fact that it's wet. BUT, one manufacturer does it, so they all do it...
Oh, the best part is that the mechanical action of washing your hands is what does most of the work in sanitizing your hands, soap can actually make you MORE susceptible to illness by removing a variety of products your skin exudes onto its surface to combat infection (membrane lysing ribozymes and the like) and drying the skin.

The main abusers of antibiotics are livestock industries, though, not poorly informed doctors and irresponsible patients. Just about every animal is given astounding amounts of antibiotics but not so much for their disease fighting effects (in fact, certain antibiotic classes have been so abused that there are bacterial strains that can use them as FOOD). Someone noticed that animals given antibiotics gained weight more rapidly and reached a higher average weight overall than similarly treated animals that were not given the antibiotics. At first it was thought "oh, it's just because they're more healthy" but, in fact, the antibiotics themselves were causing the animals to bulk up, as proven by the fact that many of the antibiotics still given to livestock are no longer effective as antibiotics (go go evolution) yet the animals still bring more meat to market in less time.

So, why get upset about argindustrialists overusing admittedly ineffective antibiotics? Because they also do still give the animals doses of currently effective antibiotics... and I don't expect Frank the Farmhand to draw the distinction between the two, so we find abuses of the newer, still effective, antibiotics simply because of the conditioning to overdose the animals.

The thing that bothers me most about the general availability of antibiotics is that, while Carla the Crackwhore is only destroying her life, Henry the Hypochondriac is busily breeding the new strains of this, that, and/or the other that may just spread around the world one day and kill us all. Tuberculosis is already a growing problem. Post operative infection (by antibiotic/antiviral resistant strains, of course) is a major player in hospital deaths these days. It is my opinion that antibiotics should be controlled with handling restrictions silimar to Schedule I, Class A drugs... as they pose a greater threat to more people than heroin ever has.

Re:The flu/pneumonia and anti-biotics

[andrewski]

I think that soap that claims to be anti-bacterial has Triclosan as its active ingredient. Soap is not 'naturally' anti-bacterial - many bacteria enjoy very basic environments, and some can probably live off of it.

Re:Antibiotics are not for viral infections

[KnightNavro]

If it isn't a virus, it isn't the flu. The flu is caused by the influenza virus, so if it isn't caused by that virus, calling it the flu (as in the Slashdot headline) is misleading.

CBC Article...

[Sentry21]

The CBC has a story on the cases in Canada as well.

--Dan

Re:CBC Article...

[jake-in-a-box]

In a follow-up report the Times reports that SAR does not appear to be propagated by casual contact. It takes continuous exposure, such as would be seen by family members or care-givers. This is reassuring, because if it were to be spread easily it could be a problem. The statement that neither virus nor bacterial agent can be identified is interesting. Exactly what is meant by "a previously unknown infectious agent" is unclear.

Epidemiologists have been watching for indications of a repeat of the 1918 Swine Flu and expect it to emanate from Southeast Asia, primarily because so many people live in close proximity to other animals, as in the farm animals live on the first floor and the family lives on the second floor.

Scary

[tsa]

This is really scary. I have a heart disorder. People with heart disorders are extra vulnerable to the flu, so I hope my doctors will warn me in time and tell me what (not) to do... I heard it takes about 10 years to make a vaccin against a new type of flu so that will probably come too late.
I think I'll stay indoors and only invite people if I really have to :-)

Why antibiotics are fed to the livestock

[Muhammar]

Cows and pigs are not supposed eat grains and soya all the time - but it makes them grow quick and their meat is more tender & juicy (=intramuscular fat). High calory/low fieber diet can make the animals sick - the bacteria in the gut would produce a lot of acidic products that irritate/cause inflamation of the gut, resulting in indigestion, diarrhea and poor absorbtion of the feed. But if you suppress bacteria by adding antibiotics, you can feed this stuff with impunity.

Although, the antibiotic resistance may not have anything to do with this: the pathogen looks to me more like a virus, quite possibly of the influenza variety. Please remember that influenza viruses are *exceptionaly* variable, fast- mutating. They have their natural reservoir in birds (wild population and chicken as weel) and also pigs, and only infect humans when they mutate. Influenza virus needs the host to have a protease capable of activating the key virus protein. Most often these proteases are specific to the particular tissue and animal species - that is until the key virus protein eventualy mutates and a new host becames vulnerable to it.
When the mutation would happen is unpredictable and if the new influenza virus is only a cousin-relative to the common influenza virus, the neuramidinaze inhibitors may not work at all on it.
Muhammar