NationStates Jolt Archive

Okay, perhaps the thread title is a bit misleading, but the following article gives us peaceniks another good reason to strongly suggest that our troops in the Middle East come home.

Soldiers bringing superbug back from Kandahar (http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/TopStories/ContentPosting.aspx?feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V2&showbyline=True&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20071218%2facinetobacter_071218)

The Public Health Agency of Canada is warning hospitals across the country to be on the lookout for a highly drug-resistant "superbug" that could be brought back by wounded soldiers from Afghanistan and could contaminate hospitals here......

But this strain has grown particularly virulent, resists numerous antibiotics, and can cause pneumonia, respiratory failure and other complications......

Doctors say it may not be the most pressing threat to public health, given that there are so many other more superbugs that hospitals are contending with, most notably MRSA.

"Nonetheless," says Simor, "we have to take it very seriously because it is so resistant to so many antibiotics. Also, there may come a time when we lose the ability to treat these infections because they become so resistant.
Bring our boys home....preferably bug and bullet hole free!!!

Natural selection's a bitch :(

Bring our boys home....preferably bug and bullet hole free!!!
No, don't.

Stick them in a hole and shoot them if they've got some kind of superbug, then irradiate the field hospitals where it's present, to kill it.

Chrissakes, don't bring them home to infect everyone else.

Another superbug? Good lord, it seems like just two months ago everyone was going nuts over the staph superbug...

Another superbug? Good lord, it seems like just two months ago everyone was going nuts over the staph superbug...
And indeed C'est Difficle, as I call it.

Probably because of the rampant/unchecked usage of antibiotics.

Back to the topic; horrible,... they might be trapped in quarantine.

No, don't.

Stick them in a hole and shoot them if they've got some kind of superbug, then irradiate the field hospitals where it's present, to kill it.

Chrissakes, don't bring them home to infect everyone else.
A bit of overkill there?

A bit of overkill there?

It is the most effective way of ensuring that they don't bring some nasty disease back
(and yes)

I guess there's no way of biogenetically altering the said "superbug", and allow it to reproduce in our bodies but adapt it so it doesn't affect us and leaves us after a few days, by chaning the DNA strands in the nucleus of one or two?
Just a thought

omg terrorist germs! *circle, circle dot, dot*

of course why would you want to bring the troops home from Afghanistan :confused:

Probably because of the rampant/unchecked usage of antibiotics.

Back to the topic; horrible,... they might be trapped in quarantine.

It's also an issue of patient compliance. When your doctor, and the prescription antibiotic bottle, tells you to use the ENTIRE bottle of pills, it really, really means it. Yes, you may feel better after a few days, and want to discard the other few days worth of "extra" antibiotic pills you have, but doing so will make this drug resistance problem considerably worse than it already might have been.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=2017029256

Mud will save my life. :)

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=2017029256

Mud will save my life. :)

I watched that link, that guy is a moron, i despise people like that, they command you too do stuff because it sounds funny.

That stuff about the immune system is rubbish, but he is right about one thing Western societies are obsessed with health, not necessarily germs but they come into it.
I stopped watching it halfway through cos he's a parasitic old nutter with no sense of how health works at all.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=2017029256

Mud will save my life. :)
Yah butt only Hudson River mud!! :D

I watched that link, that guy is a moron, i despise people like that, they command you too do stuff because it sounds funny.

That stuff about the immune system is rubbish, but he is right about one thing Western societies are obsessed with health, not necessarily germs but they come into it.
I stopped watching it halfway through cos he's a parasitic old nutter with no sense of how health works at all.

Oh, he admits it. Elsewhere in the same program he says, "I have always been willing to put myself at great personal risk for the sake of entertainment. And I've always been willing to put YOU at great personal risk for the same reason."

But keep in mind that he is a comedian and an entertainer and not a Health class teacher. Or as another comedian, Sam Kinison responded when people accused him of making medically incorrect jokes about HIV: "It really hurts because I promised myself when I went to medical school to learn comedy that I would only tell medically correct jokes."

Or if you prefer a simpler response; Lighten up! They're jokes!

:D

Or if you prefer a simpler response; Lighten up! They're jokes!

:D

I guess you're right, just a comedian, problem is i still think he's an idiot. Even i could make better jokes than that, that doesn't involve warping anyones sense of hygiene, but what i do find funny is red dwarf, was gonna get the DVD but it's too expensive, and i've got xmas presents to get, not many just some stocking ones.
Can't wait to go home, i'll actually have good food! yay.

The second I read this, I thought of this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonine_Plague

Of course, it's not the same disease, and certainly not as dangerous, but it's a rather bemusing and concerning historical parallel. However, I don't think we have much to worry about, especially with new advances in alternatives to antibiotics; the primary concern seems to be weakening the armed forces more than anything else.