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Health Officials Warn: Superbugs Are a ‘Ticking Time Bomb’ for the World

Mar. 11, 2013 8:30pm Liz Klimas

Last week, the CDC was “sounding an alarm” over the threat of antibiotic resistant superbugs. This week, the chief medical officer in England is doing the same.

“Antimicrobial resistance is a ticking time bomb not only for the UK but also for the world,” the chief medical officer in the U.K., Dame Sally Davies, wrote in the country’s second volume of its annual report. “We need to work with everyone to ensure the apocalyptic scenario of widespread antimicrobial resistance does not become a reality.”

According to the report, microbes changing has led to a new infectious disease discovery almost every year for the past 30 years.

“What I uncovered was quite a horror story in antimicrobial resistance,” Davies said in a video detailing the second volume of her annual report.

Watch Davis talk about the conclusions:

The CDC acknowledged last week that while superbugs, those resistant to antibiotics, are still uncommon, in the first six months of last year, nearly 200 U.S. hospitals – about 4 percent – saw at least one case.

Health officials call them “nightmare bacteria” that have now been seen in 42 states and threaten to spread their resistance to more and more of their bacterial brethren.

“We only have a limited window of opportunity to stop spread” of these superbugs, said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden. At a press conference Tuesday, he said he was “sounding an alarm.”

Here’s more from Frieden:

The CDC’s Vital Signs report focused on the superbugs that have emerged from one specific bacteria group. At least five of the 70 kinds in that family have developed resistance to a class of antibiotic called carbapenems – considered one of the last lines of defense against hard-to-treat bugs.

Health Officials in U.S. and U.K. Warn of Resistant Superbugs

(Image: CDC)

Some of those bacteria seem to have terrifying potential. Among them: Klebsiella pneumoniae, a bug that killed at least seven patients at a federal research hospital in Bethesda, Md.; and those made resistant by a gene called NDM-1, named for New Delhi.

U.S. health officials are keeping a close eye on the NDM-1 superbugs, which first showed up in India in 2010 and have been seen as more of a concern in other parts of the world. Of the 30 cases in the U.S., about half have been reported since July, including eight patients at a Denver hospital.

An op-ed in the Denver Post by medical professionals emphasizes the need to re-evaluate the use of antibiotics in general:

To effectively combat superbugs like CRE, we need to confront the problem at hand that has allowed them to thrive — the overuse of antibiotics in health care. Studies have shown that one-third of antibiotics prescribed to patients in hospitals are unnecessary.

[...]

Improving the use of antibiotics in a hospital can actually save the hospital $400,000 or more per year. The entire health-care system benefits when we improve antibiotic use and decrease drug-resistance.

In Davis’ report, she makes 17 recommendations to fight against superbugs. They include keeping close tabs on infectious disease prevalence around the world, educating the public before they travel to a foreign countries and improved testing for infections.

Davis, in the video, also noted that few new antibiotics are being developed because it is not considered cost-effective for pharmaceutical companies to do so.

Check out the full report from the U.K.’s chief medical officer here. Find the CDC’s Vital Signs report here.

–

Related:

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Featured image via Shutterstock.com.

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Comments (55)

Seagal45
Posted on March 12, 2013 at 2:35am
Old news, different wrapper. The overuse of antibiotics has been a problem for years. The scare tactics of the media usually don’t come to pass.

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- freedomofspeech
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 8:45am
  Old news is right, 20 yrs ago, this was discussed in microbiology class and nursing school. The misuse of antibiotics. First MERSA was only in hospitals then to nursing homes now in the general public. I have warned to no end for ppl to ask doctors to culture the infection before accepting ABT. I have seen the misuse for 20 yrs. I have witnessed children receive ABT for non bacterial infections, hoarding of antibiotics, not taking full prescription, sharing ABT prescription, taking expired prescription. Vancomycin is it, and strains of resistant bacteria to vancomycin are on the rise. I was taught to treat antibiotics with the utmost care especially with IVs. Used to be state regulation to flush unused medications, I always felt uncomfortable doing this after i read an article about the “minimal” amount of prescription medication in the water supply, I actually expressed this during a state survey. Yet the beat goes on.
  
  Report this comment
Obama_In_PeePee_By_Zee_Arteeest_Beck
Posted on March 12, 2013 at 1:14am
“Health Officials Warn: Superbugs Are a ‘Ticking Time Bomb’ for the World”

According to plan and right on schedule:

“5 BILLION HUMAN BEINGS TO BE MURDERED — New World Order :: The Plan Is In Progress RIGHT NOW !!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVeA07d2F_I
“Charles Wurster [Environmental Defense Fund] said people are the cause of all problems, we need to get rid of some of them. Bill Clinton … signed the Bio Diversity treaty that said we need to reduce the earth’s population to 1 billion. They’ve already got the earth … divided up into regions. Red areas are for animals only, no human beings allowed. The treaty’s been signed, it just hasn’t been enforced yet. Coming soon, though.”
http://store.creationtoday.org/index/page/product/product_id/22

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Acena
Posted on March 12, 2013 at 12:03am
Antibiotic resistant TB arrived here a couple of years ago from Mexico and Antibiotic resistant gonorrhea arrived from Asia in 2012.

Illegal immigrants have reintroduced bubonic plague ,leprosy ,whooping cough,measles ,bedbugs and brought in ebola,,intestinal parasites and Hep C,D & E. Illegals and refugees are not screened for diseases and few have had inoculations .

Many of the “bugs” our country experiences from fresh produce are from fields with illegal farm workers. They don’t stop working and travel 5 miles to go to the restroom……….

“Super bugs” are just germs evolving and mutating to try and survive.

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- Oregon11
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 10:59am
  Yes. In Mexico children are unnecessarily given antibiotics for something as simple as the common cold. Overuse of these drugs has opened pandora’s box of pandemics.
  
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zgomer
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 11:15pm
More buullshit and lies by the fear mongering lib media…

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Raisingmy3boysright
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 10:59pm
I ma a Microbiologist and I had a drug resistant pneumonia in November. It took me almost 2 months to get rid of it completely. The first round of antibiotics did not do a thing to get rid of it. It is the most known and used antibiotic used in hospitals today. I had to go on another round of a different antibiotic that finally started to get rid of it. I was sure the bacteria I study would be the death of me! It is getting scarier out there that is for sure. The fact that we have many people entering this country illegally and never checked before entering is a very scary thought.

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- michaelmoron
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 11:14pm
  I was sick for 3 weeks ( I don’t go to the doctor ). This was the worst “bug” I have had in my 45+ years.
  
  A lot of other people I have talked to, had experienced the same thing.
  
  In addition to the length of the illness, this was the third time I got sick this season.
  ( granted, I am exposed to a lot of people in confined quarters )
  
  I had never been sick more than once, in any given flu season.
  
  Report this comment
- marssnw
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 1:19am
  My microbio professor sent me this link last week. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/03/cre-cdc/ The over use of antibiotics is the cause for alot this mess. These microbes are becoming more and more resistant as they change.
  
  Report this comment
Tigress1
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 10:54pm
I’ve heard that doctors now aren’t prescribing antibiotics for ear infections in children. I always thought that a “ruptured eardrum” was a real threat from ear infections, along with severe pain. It’s sad to think that kids are just “suffering it out” now. I’m beginning to wonder if the real threat isn’t superbugs but $$$$$$$.

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chips1
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 10:32pm
My guess is that the TSA is going to make sure it’s spread from one persons private parts to another’s.

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ChiefGeorge
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 10:04pm
More scare tactics from the Left…..and the Left railed against Bush admin for scaring people after 911.

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crusaderx9
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:50pm
wow, imagine that – another crisis…

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- chips1
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 10:49pm
  Bloomberg is on it. He is going to ban touching.
  
  Report this comment
media-bias-steals-elections
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:42pm
Mandatory medical insurance with astronomical payments, are necessary for governments with spending problems, and for citizens who have the audacity of hope that the hospital might actually help them if they get sick?

Well, this will solve the entitlement and spending problems, won’t it? Not as obvious as getting into a physical war, but almost as effective? Not as obvious as cleaning up your nuclear waste at nuclear plants or holding facilities that might be hit with meteors from out space, but almost as effective for the “best and the brightest”?

You people that voted for these spending problems, thought you could beat the system, when President Obama is bragging, we need to recruite the best, and the brightest, to work for government?
Huh?

What does limited government, and making a budget have to do with the “best and brightest”, if we have radioactive cess pools waiting decades to get cleaned up? Oh we don’t mind if the politicians ride in the back of the bus, they just need to stop offering new ideas for other people to do and do their own jobs?

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justangry
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:26pm
Didn’t Dubya sign an EO handing over sovereignty to the UN in the case of a pandemic?

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- Stelex
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:32pm
  At this stage of the game kids, GOV……left right and inbetween……….IS THE ENEMY. GOVERNMENT is the ENEMY, forget parties, forget lines………Its US vs GOVERNMENT. You can’t make it any simpler than that……………WAKE UP
  
  Report this comment
- truthnstuff
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:41pm
  Another crisis, just like all the other flu, virus pandemics that never happened. The government wants control and the media wants headlines. Between them we can never get the truth.
  
  Report this comment
- michaelmoron
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:45pm
  @Stelex
  
  I am wide awake, Brother.
  
  Report this comment
sparkyrules
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:26pm
Eat your veggies.

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OlefromMN
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:25pm
As a Christian I can not find it in me to wring my hands and fret. We have had many scares like this and will have many more. If God is merciful, he will provide us with the knowledge to treat this. No amount of government funding will save us from a microbe that is more tenacious than the Republican Party. That sets the bar pretty low.

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- Stelex
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:37pm
  R U OK, Do you need assistance. Have you fallen and can’t get up?.
  
  Report this comment
Rayblue
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:24pm
I already heard this news. We’re all gonna die. And….
What really superbugs me is this new reply button.
Which genius organized this rout of the senses ? You certainly can’t miss it. It’s as big as a barn door and red as a Radio Flyer.

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michaelmoron
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:06pm
I know. That’s crazy talk. The “government” are your friends. They care about you.

They don’t create superbugs in laboratories.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MILLIONS WERE IN GERM WAR TESTS
Much of Britain was exposed to bacteria sprayed in secret trials

Antony Barnett, public affairs editor

The Observer, Sunday 21 April 2002 05.23 EDT

” The Ministry of Defence turned large parts of the country into a giant laboratory to conduct a series of secret germ warfare tests on the public.
A government report just released provides for the first time a comprehensive official history of Britain’s biological weapons trials between 1940 and 1979.”

“One chapter of the report, ‘The Fluorescent Particle Trials’, reveals how between 1955 and 1963 planes flew from north-east England to the tip of Cornwall along the south and west coasts, dropping huge amounts of zinc cadmium sulphide on the population.
While the Government has insisted the chemical is safe, cadmium is recognised as a cause of lung cancer and during the Second World War was considered by the Allies as a chemical weapon.”

“The report also reveals details of the DICE trials in south Dorset between 1971 and 1975. These involved US and UK military scientists spraying into the air massive quantities of serratia marcescens bacteria, with an anthrax simulant and phenol.”

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lid.smoker
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:01pm
The vast majority of these superbugs came out of my butt. I’m sorry humanity, my poor hygiene will wipe out most of you due to my lack of wiping.

Since I am the “daddy” of these superbugs, I am completely immune to any ill effects from them. Hold on a minute, I feel some sort of bug up my butt starting to kick. It’s time to hatch another species of germs. Hahahahaha.

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- cosmic dogma
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 2:04am
  I knew it was you all of the time.
  
  Report this comment
michaelmoron
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 8:52pm
Don’t tell me these strains aren’t laboratory-born.

I, and others have been extremely sick as of late, multiple times.

I NEVER got the FLU TWO times in one season, muchless THREE TIMES.

Don’t tell me that they aren’t spraying these micoplasmas on us, under the guise of geo-engineering.

I have no evidence to substantiate these claims, but my pineal gland still works great.

The World Health Organization also agrees with the Global elite that the earth can only “sustain”
500 million – 1 billion people.

Don’t forget, “the ends justifies the means”.

The International Bankster Cartel are your friends, and they are not sick and tired of Americans clinging to their bibles and guns.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AP
In this June 25, 1945 picture, army doctors expose patients to malaria-carrying mosquitoes in the malaria ward at Stateville Penitentiary in Crest Hill, Ill.

By MIKE STOBBE
updated 2/27/2011 6:14:20 PM ET

ATLANTA — Shocking as it may seem, U.S. government doctors once thought it was fine to experiment on disabled people and prison inmates. Such experiments included giving hepatitis to mental patients in Connecticut, squirting a pandemic flu virus up the noses of prisoners in Maryland, and injecting cancer cells into chronically ill people at a New York hospital.

Much of this horrific history is 40 to 80 years old, but it is the backdrop for a meeting in Washington this week by a presidential bioethics commission.”

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- FISH_BONE
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:02pm
  “Don’t tell me that they aren’t spraying these micoplasmas on us, under the guise of geo-engineering.”
  
  Really? Maybe if you expand your tinfoil hat and wrap it completely around your entire head, you wouldn’t breath the spray. Or better yet, throw away the tinfoil and use Saran Wrap. That would quickly fix the problem.
  
  Report this comment
- eat-more-bacon-USA
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:04pm
  @MICHAELMORON – Now, now, guinea pigs aren’t allowed to complain or ask questions – just put your full trust in obama and his government!
  
  Report this comment
- michaelmoron
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:13pm
  “While details of some secret trials have emerged in recent years, the 60-page report reveals new information about more than 100 covert experiments.”
  
  “The report also reveals details of the DICE trials in south Dorset between 1971 and 1975. These involved US and UK military scientists spraying into the air massive quantities of serratia marcescens bacteria, with an anthrax simulant and phenol.”
  
  “In another chapter, ‘Large Area Coverage Trials’, the MoD describes how between 1961 and 1968 more than a million people along the south coast of England, from Torquay to the New Forest, were exposed to bacteria including e.coli and bacillus globigii , which mimics anthrax. These releases came from a military ship, the Icewhale, anchored off the Dorset coast, which sprayed the micro-organisms in a five to 10-mile radius.”
  
  “Asked whether such tests are still being carried out, she said: ‘It is not our policy to discuss ongoing research.’ ”
  
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2002/apr/21/uk.medicalscience
  
  ~~~~~~~~~
  
  Our ‘Government” isn’t spraying Aluminum, Barium and Strontium to combat global warming.
  
  That’s “crazy talk”.
  
  They would never experiment on the people like the British did.
  
  Give me a break.
  
  Report this comment
- michaelmoron
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:21pm
  @Fishbone.
  
  Maybe if you pull your head out of your @$$ and take a deep breath, you might get some brain cells back.
  
  The first 15 minutes of this video is proof positive that chemtrails exist and that you are an ignorant moron.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf0khstYDLA
  
  Here is the hard evidence, clown. Consider your stupid @$$ edified.
  
  107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
  H. R. 2977
  
  SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
  
  (III) by expelling chemical or biological agents in the vicinity of a person.
  
  (B) Such terms include exotic weapons systems such as–
  
  (i) electronic, psychotronic, or information weapons;
  
  (ii) chemtrails;
  
  (iii) high altitude ultra low frequency weapons systems;
  
  (iv) plasma, electromagnetic, sonic, or ultrasonic weapons;
  
  (v) laser weapons systems;
  
  (vi) strategic, theater, tactical, or extraterrestrial weapons; and
  
  (vii) chemical, biological, environmental, climate, or tectonic weapons.
  
  Chemtrails listed as a FACT in the HR2977. lol. loser.
  
  Don’t you have some Jack@$$ or Jersey Shore to go watch?
  
  Report this comment
- FISH_BONE
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:26pm
  If you have ever read any of my comments you know full well I am certainly no fan of the Kenyan Maggot or government in general; however, a heightened state of paranoia doesn’t serve anyone. Try to get in touch with reality, current reality. Rather than provide examples from years gone by to support your tin foil hat anxiety attack, put up some real evidence of what you are claiming.
  
  Report this comment
- michaelmoron
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:35pm
  @Fishbone
  
  Are you done embarrassing yourself ?
  
  I am ProbIemSoIver. I am the LAST Blazer you should challenge.
  You had no clue that I am a Master debater. lol.
  Most Blazers know I don’t make claims that I can’t substantiate.
  Now you know.
  
  If you want to go….go. If you want to continue, I will knock you down for the count. lol.
  
  BTW, you have no meat on that bone.
  
  Report this comment
- FISH_BONE
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:45pm
  I have noticed on other comments you have posted, that if anyone challenges your “superior intellect” you resort to name calling. As such, I am not surprised at your response to my comments. Your posts seem to be a call for attention. “Hey look how smart I think I am.” Are you really that insecure about yourself?
  
  Report this comment
- FISH_BONE
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:56pm
  “I am the LAST Blazer you should challenge.”
  
  I’ve seen you post that in response to others. Frankly, I’m not impressed. Knowing your history, I just wanted to see if I could get you all worked up so you would, yet again, explain how smart you are. It worked. Thanks for playing. I won.
  
  Report this comment
- michaelmoron
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 10:07pm
  lol. You won?
  
  I think everyone was witness to the contrary.
  
  I didn’t say that I am not one you shouldn’t challenge because I’m “smart”.
  
  I said I bring facts to the table, and you shouldn’t challenge the facts, unless you like to put your lack of ratiocination on display. I can also articulate my points succinctly, without any effort.
  
  I will let you think you’ve “won”.
  
  BTW, I hope you have learned something.
  
  Report this comment
- michaelmoron
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 10:14pm
  @NO meat on that Bone
  
  You began this “name calling” with the Tin-Foil hat moniker.
  
  You then proceed to imply that I should suffocate myself using saran wrap.
  
  All of this because you still hold a grudge from our encounter, where you had the audacity to
  give a legal scholar a “lesson” in law. lol.
  
  Yes, I am name calling today because I am Pi$$ed off !!!!
  
  My patience is running thin with the nescient morons.
  
  Report this comment
- The-Monk
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 10:36pm
  Be nice guys… we’re on the same side. : )
  
  Report this comment
- michaelmoron
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 10:56pm
  Hi Monk.
  
  You are correct.
  
  I call a truce with Fish_bone.
  
  I admit I am not the smartest here, I make mistakes, and I have an ego :p
  
  Peace Out, Fish_bone.
  
  Report this comment
FISH_BONE
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 8:51pm
Why is it that the government always has something they think we need to be terrified of? They always have some health scare that is going to wipe out the human population if we don’t do something immediately. Funny how we always survive and live for the next scare.

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SendTheMeteors
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 8:44pm
That’s evolution for ya.

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- FISH_BONE
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 8:54pm
  MEAT-HEAD, you and your kind (progressives) are the most pursuasive evidence of evolution (or lack thereof) I have ever seen. If only you could catch up with the rest of us, we would all be better off.
  
  Report this comment
- Stelex
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:18pm
  Thats Gov for ya……In gov speak that translates to we are about to perform population control with a lovely strain of “whaterver” for the good of man kink. The 6.5 billion that will perish are do a great service to man kind and will be recognized as such. Here comes the “Stand”
  
  Report this comment
eat-more-bacon-USA
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 8:43pm
Antibiotic resistant SUPERBUGS?

Gee, what a prefect time to completely destroy the American healthcare system by implementing obamacare!

Millions more patients … thousands of fewer doctors … dramatically reduced quality of care … months-long or years-long waiting periods for doctors appointments and specialized medical procedures … extremely limited supplies of vital drugs … massive waiting rooms (warehouses?) full of hundreds, or thousands of patients leading to extremely high risk of contamination and spread of communicable diseases … and now, throw drug-resistant superbugs into the mix … obamacare will destroy America (exactly as planned). Brilliant!

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woodyee
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 8:43pm
Why do I get the feeling we’ll be hearing the clarion call for higher taxes and more restrictions on Rights?

First, scientists claim to be able to control the weather – we had to stop cows from farting; then we had seal the hole in the ozone layer; then we were going to pay a global UN tax, and now we’re paying carbon credit blackmail in California, and Algore is filthy rich on carbon credit sales.

Now, they want to bring an end to Darwinism. Microbes don’t ever stop mutating. If they want to control transmission, they have to start by controlling our borders efficiently, and not like Obammy and DHS are doing.

Without first controlling our borders, everything else will fail. WILL fail.

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- Ruckus_Tom
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 9:00pm
  Ever hear of AIDS? The activists out there made dang sure their “rights” weren’t infringed.
  
  Report this comment
- woodyee
  Posted on March 12, 2013 at 9:39am
  Good point, Tom. There’s one disease with political protection…
  
  Report this comment
skippy6
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 8:41pm
Well I don’t know about a superbug… But here is one way to do away with a ferocious killer!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOrgLj9lOwk

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SpankDaMonkey
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 8:41pm
.
I hope they find a cure for Obama soon……before we all die…..

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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 8:35pm
For the record the idiot scientists seem to forget that microbes, viruses and the like to adapt and change to build immunity to medications over enough time. So why the surprise we may have another super bug on the way?

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- MAProg
  Posted on March 11, 2013 at 11:45pm
  Idiot scientists? I’m pretty sure biologists have been warning about the overuse of anti-biotics for a decade or more.
  
  Report this comment
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on March 11, 2013 at 8:34pm
Would a superbug be classified as Pelosi-itis, or Obama-care. Those are set to wipe out healthcare in the US, but then again, we have to catch the superbug, before we knows what’s in it.

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