Really scary news found on the Telegraph and written by David Lawler concerning…

U.S. woman killed by superbug resistant to every available anti-biotic

Though not directly related, I’m reminded of Newton’s famous third law of motion: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

In the case of anti-biotics, they have saved countless lives and helped the sick get well.  Unfortunately, their broad usage has had unintended side effects.  Using another famous scientist’s ideas, Charles Darwin’s in this case, it would appear when you create anti-biotics to kill “bugs”, you also, perhaps inevitably, leave behind the bugs most resistant to these anti-biotics.  Thus the bugs survive via a form of natural selection.  While we kill all the bugs we can, those that survive are more and more resistant to the drugs used against them and the big fear is that they will not only live on, but multiply.

The only good thing to be gleaned about the above report is the following:

According to the CDC, “pan-resistant” bacteria are very uncommon, and “infection control contact precautions” are important in such situations, meaning patients will be isolated.

A different superbug was found in at least four patients in the US last year. It was found to be resistant even to colistin, considered the last resort among antibiotics because of its harmful side effects.

Fortunately that bug, known as mcr-1, was not found to be highly contagious.

So these highly resistant bugs are uncommon and, it appears so far, not highly contagious.

The big concern is: What if that changes?

And you thought having a President Trump was your biggest concern.