Federal Effort To Control Rare, Deadly Bacteria Is Starting To Work
Not all monsters hide in closets or under beds.
Last year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found bacteria resistant to the antibiotics of last resort hiding inside the gut and other crannies of roughly 1,400 people in the U.S.
That tally comes from a network of labs the CDC set up in 2017 to quickly identify these “monster bacteria” and corral them before they spread. They include rare strains of E. coli, Klebsiella, and Enterobacter.
So far, the strains have mostly been found in nursing homes and hospitals, where they can cause urinary tract infections and sepsis, and can spread to other patients and family members.
About half the people who develop infections from these bacteria die, says Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s deputy director.
The year-old network seems to be working, Schuchat says, though she'd like many more doctors and hospitals to be sending in suspicious samples for testing.
More of these worrisome strains have turned up than she expected.
"These rare resistance patterns were widespread," Schuchat tells NPR science correspondent Richard Harris. "Basically no age, race or gender was spared."
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| Should doctors choose lactated Ringer's solution (right) or normal saline?
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Why Did Sterile Salt Water Become The IV Fluid Of Choice?
Doctors are starting to rethink whether that clear saline that drips into the veins of so many hospital patients is really the healthiest solution (pun intended) for people who are dehydrated or critically ill.
Shots contributor Dr. Clayton Dalton, who also works as a medical resident at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, has the story for Shots.
“For such a ubiquitous treatment, you'd probably expect that saline has been thoroughly studied and refined. As it turns out, that was never really the case at all,” Dalton reports.
A version of what started out in the early 1830s in England as a treatment for deadly cholera became the IV fluid of choice worldwide, without much testing.
It’s really only in the last decade, Dalton says, that scientists have confirmed that a different IV fluid that costs about the same works at least as well -- and is easier on the kidneys.
Tens of millions of patients receive IV fluids every year in the U.S.
“Just shifting the default from normal saline to balanced fluids has the potential to change outcomes for huge numbers of patients -- much more so than most new blockbuster drugs," says Dr. Matthew Semler, of Vanderbilt University.
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| Money deposited in a health savings account is tax-deductible, grows tax-free and can be used to pay for medical expenses.
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Health Savings Account Change For 2018 Could Trip Up Some Consumers
Whether you’re still puzzling over your 2017 income tax return, or looking ahead to deductions for 2018, our friend Michelle Andrews, from Kaiser Health News, has a few health-related tips.
First, some good news for last-minute filers: If you lacked health insurance for a month or two in 2017, you don’t owe a penalty -- that fine doesn’t kick in unless you’ve had a lapse in health coverage of at least three consecutive months.
And here’s a warning to early birds who have already started contributing to a health savings account for 2018: The maximum allowable family contribution to an HSA has dipped slightly.
The limit is $6,850 for 2018, according to the Internal Revenue Service, down from $6,900 last year.
That tiny difference -- only $50 -- could become a headache if you don’t reduce your withholding enough to stay under the cap, Andrews explains.
Be sure to adjust it, or else this time next year you'll be on the hook for a 6 percent penalty -- and risk drawing extra scrutiny from the IRS.
Your Shots editor, Deborah Franklin
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