Post: #1

Lechuguilla Cave has been completely isolated from the outside world for over four million years, making it one of the world's most pristine ecosystems. And yet it's full of bacteria that are resistant to modern antibiotics. This is fantastic news.

Part of New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns, the cave was cut off from the rest of the world millions of years ago thanks to a thick layer of rock all around it. Only water could wend its way through the rock, and the path to the cave is so ridiculously tiny and circuitous that it takes ten thousand years to reach the cave itself. That means no new lifeforms had reached the cave until an entrance was first uncovered in 1984.

That's why the discovery of antibiotic-resistant bacteria inside the cave is so shocking. It's not just the fact that the bacterial strains in this cave evolved isolated from modern medicine — they are about twenty times older than the human race. The good news is that Lechuguilla Cave isn't some sort of bacterial time bomb — none of the strains found in the cave could cause disease in humans. They are superbugs in terms of their natural resistance to antibiotics, not their capacity for disease.

So yeah, that's good news, but why is this discovery great news? Well, this antibiotic resistance must have evolved for some reason, and the most obvious explanation is that the bacteria actually encountered naturally occurring antibiotics — possibly produced by the bacteria themselves as they competed with nearby microbes — and had to fight them off, as McMaster University researcher Gerry Wright observes:

"Our study shows that antibiotic resistance is hard-wired into bacteria, it could be billions of years old, but we have only been trying to understand it for the last 70 years. This has important clinical implications. It suggests that there are far more antibiotics in the environment, that could be found and used to treat currently untreatable infections."

The researchers say that, between all the different bacterial strains found in the cave, they were able to identify pretty much every form of antibiotic resistance known to medical science. What's more, one strain showed signs of a form of antibiotic resistance that hasn't emerged yet in a clinical setting. Since that particular strain is a distant relative of the anthrax bacterium, it's nice to have early warning of this potential threat, and this discovery gives time for clinicians to prepare for it.

The finding also demonstrates just how widespread antibiotic resistance is among bacteria, and that the emergence of such resistance is down to more than just poor human management of these drugs, which includes overuse of antibiotics on farms and patients not completely the entire course of prescribed antibiotics. The researchers found most of the bacteria were resistant to at least one antibiotic, and several were resistant to over a dozen antibiotics.

That fact could help explain just why superbugs have been able to emerge so fast in hospitals and farms, the two places where antibiotics are most heavily used. It's not simply a case of supercharged evolution — multiple studies suggest these disease-causing superbugs would need thousands, maybe even million of years to emerge without help.

Read The Rest HERE

Post: #2

It suggests that there are far more antibiotics in the environment, that could be found and used to treat currently untreatable infections."


It's called homeopathic medicine....

Post: #3

JCD  Wrote:

It suggests that there are far more antibiotics in the environment, that could be found and used to treat currently untreatable infections."
It's called homeopathic medicine....

Penicillin was discovered naturally. Mold found growing on a culture.
It's fine if you want to practice homeopathy, but test after test have
shown that the solutions are so diluted that they couldn't possibly have
an effect. Placebo in tests have been shown to be just as effective. I'll
take the antibiotic the doc prescribes next time I have an infection.

Post: #4

When I see news say "untouched for 1 million years" I cannot help but think what a false assumption it is.

It is impossible to know what happened there over the course of the past million years. Perhaps, seemingly untouched for a million years would be a more honest approach to reporting science.

Post: #5

DrPostman  Wrote:

Lechuguilla Cave has been completely isolated from the outside world for over four million years, making it one of the world's most pristine ecosystems. And yet it's full of bacteria that are resistant to modern antibiotics. This is fantastic news.

Part of New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns, the cave was cut off from the rest of the world millions of years ago thanks to a thick layer of rock all around it. Only water could wend its way through the rock, and the path to the cave is so ridiculously tiny and circuitous that it takes ten thousand years to reach the cave itself. That means no new lifeforms had reached the cave until an entrance was first uncovered in 1984.

That's why the discovery of antibiotic-resistant bacteria inside the cave is so shocking. It's not just the fact that the bacterial strains in this cave evolved isolated from modern medicine — they are about twenty times older than the human race. The good news is that Lechuguilla Cave isn't some sort of bacterial time bomb — none of the strains found in the cave could cause disease in humans. They are superbugs in terms of their natural resistance to antibiotics, not their capacity for disease.

So yeah, that's good news, but why is this discovery great news? Well, this antibiotic resistance must have evolved for some reason, and the most obvious explanation is that the bacteria actually encountered naturally occurring antibiotics — possibly produced by the bacteria themselves as they competed with nearby microbes — and had to fight them off, as McMaster University researcher Gerry Wright observes:

"Our study shows that antibiotic resistance is hard-wired into bacteria, it could be billions of years old, but we have only been trying to understand it for the last 70 years. This has important clinical implications. It suggests that there are far more antibiotics in the environment, that could be found and used to treat currently untreatable infections."

The researchers say that, between all the different bacterial strains found in the cave, they were able to identify pretty much every form of antibiotic resistance known to medical science. What's more, one strain showed signs of a form of antibiotic resistance that hasn't emerged yet in a clinical setting. Since that particular strain is a distant relative of the anthrax bacterium, it's nice to have early warning of this potential threat, and this discovery gives time for clinicians to prepare for it.

The finding also demonstrates just how widespread antibiotic resistance is among bacteria, and that the emergence of such resistance is down to more than just poor human management of these drugs, which includes overuse of antibiotics on farms and patients not completely the entire course of prescribed antibiotics. The researchers found most of the bacteria were resistant to at least one antibiotic, and several were resistant to over a dozen antibiotics.

That fact could help explain just why superbugs have been able to emerge so fast in hospitals and farms, the two places where antibiotics are most heavily used. It's not simply a case of supercharged evolution — multiple studies suggest these disease-causing superbugs would need thousands, maybe even million of years to emerge without help.

Read The Rest HERE

This ridiculous article makes two ASSumptions.

Assumptions have nothing to do with science.

And if your assumptions are wrong, then the entire conclusion you have drawn is also wrong.

Assumption #1: These bacteria EVOLVED.

Assumption #2: Antibiotic resistance "must" have evolved for "some" reason.

And then there's the obvious erroneous assumption regarding the age. Preposterous.

So, what does this REALLY show?

It shows the bacteria were created, as is. With their "resistance."

Post: #6

With how handy microbes are at sharing genetic material, that sure is thoughtful of those scientist guys to bring a new form of antibiotic resistance to the world. The world of bacteria will appreciate it.

Post: #7

birdie  Wrote:

DrPostman  Wrote:

Lechuguilla Cave has been completely isolated from the outside world for over four million years, making it one of the world's most pristine ecosystems. And yet it's full of bacteria that are resistant to modern antibiotics. This is fantastic news.

Part of New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns, the cave was cut off from the rest of the world millions of years ago thanks to a thick layer of rock all around it. Only water could wend its way through the rock, and the path to the cave is so ridiculously tiny and circuitous that it takes ten thousand years to reach the cave itself. That means no new lifeforms had reached the cave until an entrance was first uncovered in 1984.

That's why the discovery of antibiotic-resistant bacteria inside the cave is so shocking. It's not just the fact that the bacterial strains in this cave evolved isolated from modern medicine — they are about twenty times older than the human race. The good news is that Lechuguilla Cave isn't some sort of bacterial time bomb — none of the strains found in the cave could cause disease in humans. They are superbugs in terms of their natural resistance to antibiotics, not their capacity for disease.

So yeah, that's good news, but why is this discovery great news? Well, this antibiotic resistance must have evolved for some reason, and the most obvious explanation is that the bacteria actually encountered naturally occurring antibiotics — possibly produced by the bacteria themselves as they competed with nearby microbes — and had to fight them off, as McMaster University researcher Gerry Wright observes:

"Our study shows that antibiotic resistance is hard-wired into bacteria, it could be billions of years old, but we have only been trying to understand it for the last 70 years. This has important clinical implications. It suggests that there are far more antibiotics in the environment, that could be found and used to treat currently untreatable infections."

The researchers say that, between all the different bacterial strains found in the cave, they were able to identify pretty much every form of antibiotic resistance known to medical science. What's more, one strain showed signs of a form of antibiotic resistance that hasn't emerged yet in a clinical setting. Since that particular strain is a distant relative of the anthrax bacterium, it's nice to have early warning of this potential threat, and this discovery gives time for clinicians to prepare for it.

The finding also demonstrates just how widespread antibiotic resistance is among bacteria, and that the emergence of such resistance is down to more than just poor human management of these drugs, which includes overuse of antibiotics on farms and patients not completely the entire course of prescribed antibiotics. The researchers found most of the bacteria were resistant to at least one antibiotic, and several were resistant to over a dozen antibiotics.

That fact could help explain just why superbugs have been able to emerge so fast in hospitals and farms, the two places where antibiotics are most heavily used. It's not simply a case of supercharged evolution — multiple studies suggest these disease-causing superbugs would need thousands, maybe even million of years to emerge without help.

Read The Rest HERE

This ridiculous article makes two ASSumptions.

Assumptions have nothing to do with science.

And if your assumptions are wrong, then the entire conclusion you have drawn is also wrong.

Assumption #1: These bacteria EVOLVED.

Assumption #2: Antibiotic resistance "must" have evolved for "some" reason.

And then there's the obvious erroneous assumption regarding the age. Preposterous.

So, what does this REALLY show?

It shows the bacteria were created, as is. With their "resistance."

Bacteria are evolving imbecile.
They have a reproduction rate of 20 mins and we humans have created a lot of new bacteria types too.

Just f*ck off with your Bullshit and go complain to your pastor no one listens to you.

Post: #8

their gonna get out and get me...i just know it

Post: #9

birdie  Wrote:

This ridiculous article makes two ASSumptions.
Assumptions have nothing to do with science.
And if your assumptions are wrong, then the entire conclusion you have drawn is also wrong.
Assumption #1: These bacteria EVOLVED.
Assumption #2: Antibiotic resistance "must" have evolved for "some" reason.
And then there's the obvious erroneous assumption regarding the age. Preposterous.
So, what does this REALLY show?
It shows the bacteria were created, as is. With their "resistance."

Post: #10

mstra  Wrote:

With how handy microbes are at sharing genetic material, that sure is thoughtful of those scientist guys to bring a new form of antibiotic resistance to the world. The world of bacteria will appreciate it.

They aren't bringing it out into the world. They are searching for what
caused the resistance in the first place so that we might have newer
forms of antibiotics to deal with the strains that have evolved a resistance
over the years since humans first started using antibiotics on them!

In the meantime acres upon acres of rainforest and jungle are clear
cut, exposing whatever is there to the rest of the world every
day and no one seems to care.

I swear creationists want to take us back to blood-letting and kill us
all.

Post: #11

Arch Phoenix  Wrote:

Bacteria are evolving imbecile.
They have a reproduction rate of 20 mins and we humans have created a lot of new bacteria types too.
Just f*ck off with your Bullshit and go complain to your pastor no one listens to you.

I didn't know birdie is a creationist. That explains so much!

Post: #12

Finding antibiotics is not a problem, Finding antibiotics that do not also kill man is the big problem...

Post: #13

mstra  Wrote:

With how handy microbes are at sharing genetic material, that sure is thoughtful of those scientist guys to bring a new form of antibiotic resistance to the world. The world of bacteria will appreciate it.

my first thought was, oh goody,yet another pandoras box.

Post: #14

Carlsbad Caverns have sulfuric acid in them, anything that lives there has to be very tough.

Post: #15

Damn bug is the same after 4 bazzillions years