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Mouse Borne Superbugs |
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Technophobe
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Posted: April 17 2018 at 1:50pm |
City mice carry disease-causing bacteria with drug-resistant genesMice in your living space pose potential health risks, study saysAmina Zafar ยท CBC News ยท House mice aren't just a nuisance but a potential source of infections, say researchers who trapped and tested more than 400 of the rodents from apartments across New York City. City dwellers tend to fear rats more than mice because they're bigger and can be seen scurrying in subways or in alleys. The researchers previously studied how rats carry disease-causing bacteria such as E. coli, salmonella and C. difficile. But they were concerned mice might actually pose a greater health risk because they live with us in houses and apartments. Dr. Ian Lipkin, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, and his colleagues spent 13 months trapping 416 mice living in large apartment buildings across the city, particularly in their garbage collection areas. The researchers conducted genetic analyses of the mice droppings. They found mice from all parts of the city carried bacteria associated with gastrointestinal and other diseases. And some strains had genes that help thwart the effect of antibiotics. "We found a lot of antibiotic resistance in some of these
bacteria, which we think may have implications for understanding not
only the ubiquity of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the environment
but also potential sources of human infection," said Lipkin, whose
research was published Tuesday in the journal mBio. In
the vicious cycle of resistance, antibiotics kill some bacteria, but
some of the fast-growing microbes evolve and find ways to protect
themselves against the drugs. When that happens, people can develop
infections that are much harder to treat. Antibiotic
resistance is a major challenge, and scientists are still trying to
figure out how it develops and how the resistance genes might be
spreading among species. Lipkin said while they haven't proven mice are responsible for transmitting disease to humans, he recommends exercising caution. "If
you have mice in your house, particularly if they're in and around your
living space, this is a potential health risk," he said. "If
you've got mouse droppings and they're anywhere near food, for example,
these need to be cleaned up with sterilizing disinfectant." And if a mouse actually touched any food, he said, even just a nibble, it's not safe to eat. The
researchers say their study is the first to document C. difficile DNA
in house mice in an urban setting. Lipkin suspects mice in other major
cities carry it, too. Researchers in Vancouver previously found the bacteria in urban Norway and black rats. C.
difficile bacteria are widespread in people, livestock, wildlife and
pests. That ubiquity makes it harder for scientists to sort out the
source of human disease. Dr. David Patrick, co-author of the
Vancouver study, said his team found the rats seemed to "soak up"
bacteria in the environment that humans also carry. Lipkin's team in New York also found Leptospira bacterial DNA
in mice. The bacteria, commonly found in rat urine, can can cause an
infection called leptospirosis. The risk of infection is greatest during floods โ like those caused by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last year โ because the rodents' urine gets washed into the flood waters. While
human cases of leptospirosis are rarely reported in New York, there was
a recent cluster of three cases in the Bronx, including one death, the
study's authors said. Patrick's team also found Leptospira in rats
in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. But connecting the animal findings to
disease in humans is still a challenge for researchers. "We went
looking in Vancouver to see if we had evidence of
excess leptospirosis in the human population and we couldn't find any,"
said Patrick, a medical epidemiologist with the B.C. Centre for Disease
Control. "Obviously it gets wet here but people aren't wading through
flood waters." Next, Lipkin and
his team hope to study outbreaks of human disease to see if
antibacterial resistance can be linked back to rodents and explore how
that might occur. The researchers also published a second study in the same issue that focuses on viruses found in the house mice. They found nine viruses, none of which is known to infect humans. Interestingly, Lipkin said,
one of the viruses looks like a bug that typically infects pigs. The
researchers presume the virus has been circulating in an area of the
city that used to have a lot of slaughterhouses, and that the virus
jumped from pigs to mice. Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/mice-bacteria-antibacterial-resistance-1.4622435 |
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carbon20
Moderator Joined: April 08 2006 Location: West Australia Status: Offline Points: 65816 |
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great find Techno.
another piece of the jigsaw falls into place, not really hard to understand the connection........... i believe that Native Americans used to burn all there belongings if the saw a mouse in the wigwam/teepee,as Mice "pee" as the scurry about ,no bladder control............
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Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.๐
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Technophobe
Assistant Admin Joined: January 16 2014 Location: Scotland Status: Offline Points: 88450 |
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One of the eppidemiology lessons I picked up was a tale of talking to a Native American shaman when a mystery disease showed up. His advice was to avoid mice, whilst the western doctors tied themselves in knots.
The disease turned out to be hantavirus; which is mouse-borne! Never assume that the guy wearing less clothes is an idiot. Native peoples often give science a drubbing. |
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