All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

CENSORED NEWS: Photos Future Generations Riders arrive in Wounded Knee

Source: CENSORED NEWS: Photos Future Generations Riders arrive in Wounded Knee

Gonorrhea: The Path Of Increased Resistance


5529_lores.jpg

Credit CDC PHIL – photomicrograph Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

,835

Despite 75 years of effective antibiotic treatments, gonorrhea remains the second most common STD in the United States. In 2009 the CDC recorded 301,174 cases of gonorrhea, and by 2014 that number had jumped to over 350,000.

It is estimated that more than half of all cases go unreported. 

The introduction of penicillin in the 1940s represented the first truly effective treatment, and for the next 30 years, penicillin and tetracycline both proved powerful weapons against this disease.

But by the 1970s penicillin/tetracycline resistant forms of Neisseria gonorrhoeae began to appear in the United States, and by the 1980s had become common.  In response, the CDC began recommending cephalosporins as the first-line treatment for gonorrhea.

In 1993, the CDC also recommended the use of fluoroquinolones (i.e., ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, or levofloxacin) to treat gonorrhea, as they were relatively cheap, effective, and allowed for a 1 dose treatment.

But in less than a decade, fluoroquinolone-resistant N. gonorrhoeae (QRNG) emerged out of Asia and began showing up in Hawaii and then California (see MMWR Increases in Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae — Hawaii and California, 2001).

 
In 2007, the CDC announced Fluoroquinolones No Longer Recommended for Treatment of Gonococcal Infections, leaving just one class of antibiotics – the cephalosporins – still recommended and available for the treatment of gonorrhea.

Today, a combination therapy of a cephalosporin (cefixime or ceftriaxone), along with a macrolide antibiotic (preferably azithromycin) are the only recommended treatments that remain for Gonorrhea.

Given the history of its gaining increased resistance over the decades, it is of little surprise that we are beginning to see early evidence of failure with this last line of defense, with an outbreak of `super gonorrhea’ in Leeds, England earlier this year (cite BBC report). 

A bleak prospect envisioned more than four years ago in a  2011 MMWR report called Cephalosporin Susceptibility Among Neisseria gonorrhoeae Isolates — United States, 2000—2010, which contained the following editorial comment:

The epidemiologic pattern of cephalosporin susceptibility in the West and among MSM during 2009–2010 is similar to that previously observed during the emergence of fluoroquinolone-resistant N. gonorrhoeae in the United States (23,7). Although the history of fluoroquinolone-resistant N. gonorrhoeae might not predict the patterns of decreasing cephalosporin susceptibility, the observed trends are concerning.

The bottom line, again from the editorial comment is:

In light of the diminished resources available to STD control programs and the past inability to prevent emergence of resistance, the eventual emergence of cephalosporin resistance appears likely.

All of this is making headlines once again this weekend, as Dame Sally Davies – England’s Chief Public Health Officer – has issued a warning that:

Gonorrhoea ‘could become untreatable’

By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website


Gonorrhoea could become an untreatable disease, England’s chief medical officer has warned. 

Dame Sally Davies has written to all GPs and pharmacies to ensure they are prescribing the correct drugs after the rise of “super-gonorrhoea” in Leeds.

Her warning comes after concerns were raised that some patients were not getting both of the antibiotics needed to clear the infection. 

Sexual health doctors said gonorrhoea was “rapidly” developing resistance.

(Continue . . . )

None of this comes as any surprise to public health officials, as this issue has been on their radar for years.   Some earlier reports include:

Resistant gonorrhea is just one prong of our growing antibiotic resistance problem, something which author, blogger, and journalist Maryn Mckenna has been writing and talking about for more than a decade. 

If you haven’t already seen it, I highly recommend you view:

Maryn McKenna’s TED Talk – What do we do when antibiotics don’t work any more?

 

Y.M.C.A. in Paris, Mrs. T. Roosevelt Jr. (LOC)

The Library of Congress posted a photo:

Y.M.C.A. in Paris,  Mrs. T. Roosevelt Jr. (LOC)

Bain News Service,, publisher.

Y.M.C.A. in Paris, Mrs. T. Roosevelt Jr.

[between ca. 1915 and ca. 1920]

1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.

Notes:
Title from data provided by the Bain News Service on the negative.
Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).

Subjects:
Roosevelt, Eleanor Butler,–1889-1960.

Format: Glass negatives.

Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.

Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, http://1.usa.gov/1D9d3AE

General information about the Bain Collection is available at http://1.usa.gov/1HWc8Jc

Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): http://1.usa.gov/1mmxjwx

Call Number: LC-B2- 4419-1

Embracing the Rays with Youssef of Egypt and Nawal the unnamed Goddess | nadiaharhash

I swear I was taken in a trance. I still couldn’t believe this is happening. I am sitting in the house of Nawal Saadawi. Nawal herself is there asking me friendly questions caring so much about my comfort as if I was a little princess that she has just found. And Youssef; That giant man in his presence. Suddenly became just a man sitting opposite the queen of all women.Of course it wasn’t too long until his aura took over the presence of the setting. There is an unbelievable power in his presence. His tone and voice is very pleasant to the ear.They were busy talking about them. About Egypt. About her. About him. There was this race of a conversation that could last for three days not three hours. Her eyes talk faster than her mouth. So keen. So intelligent. So much every word of every book she wrote. Somehow I knew her. What she was saying wasn’t new to me. The fact that she herself was saying it all to me was enough to keep me quiet and in that state of non-belief.

Source: Embracing the Rays with Youssef of Egypt and Nawal the unnamed Goddess | nadiaharhash

13 Lebanese That Made It Big In 2015

Big 13!

A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares

As 2015 draws to a close, and you are overwhelmed by end-of-year lists, the only list that I wanted to make, as I also did last year, was one commemorating Lebanese faces that I believe did something in 2015 that was great.

Consider it as one of my rare non-nagging posts of the year, fitting to end 2015 on a more or less positive note despite it being the year that it was. The names I’m about to mention are in no particular order, and are chosen in a non-scientific way of course.

1. Abou Ali Issa & Adel Termos:

In the depth of horror and chaos emerged the two stories of true heroism in the country this year in the form of two men: Abou Ali Issa and Adel Termos. Both of them lost their lives months and kilometers apart, but in eerily similar scenarios: to the hands of…

View original post 1,019 more words