Could Fukushima radiation be causing bacteria resistant antibiotics?

thewatchers.adorraeli.com... -mutations/

I have read about the unfortunate woman who was cut by a zip line and now is recovering from a flesh eating bacteria.

Another new development is about a woman who recently delivered her babies and was soon returned to the hospital with a fast moving flesh eating bacteria.

Are these coincidental? Are there many instances of this illness, but now they are being reported because it is currently in the news? What do you think?

Bacteria have been pumping iron since the dawn of anti-biotics. They have been becoming more and more resistant to treatments because of the over subscription of epic proportions. This is not a new problem in the slightest, its been one of the top problems in the medical fields for a couple of decades now at least.

reply to post by zookman44


You typically see flesh eating bacteria in the warmer areas of the world or southern parts of the United States. Since we had a VERY mild winter, I would say that the bacteria had a chance to get a head start and become more readily available to infect us.

Im no doctor, just guessing here.

The article indicated that a burst of radiation would not necessarily increase the mutability of a virus or bacteria, yet it did indicate that continuous exposure to radiation could magnify the process of mutation. It will be interesting to see in the next few months if there is an increase in the number of stories dealing with such illness.

I'll buy that radiation can slightly increase the rate of mutation, yes, but the key to remember is that the vast, vast majority of mutations in living organisms are deleterious. Keep in mind, though, that without selective pressure, one is not going to see an increase in antibiotic resistance.

Also keep in mind that the levels of radiation we're getting from Fukushima in the US are insanely minute and the resulting impact on mutation rate would probably be immeasurable.

As for flesh-eating bacteria, it's usually caused by neither rare nor mutated bacteria - the issue is one of really bad luck in where and how a would gets infected, often exasperated by some sort of immunosuppressive condition.

Thanks for your response.

Your comment is exactly what is needed to keep a level headed and sustainable discussion.

So the increase in the number of people who are getting the flesh-eating bacteria is caused by an unfortunate set of circumstances? About 3 people have been reported in the news, but how could a person find out about a larger trend? Because of the protections offered to patients, there is not a way to find out if the number of unreported cases have gone up.

Also, perhaps the bacteria is not mutating, instead could our own immune systems be compromised by effects from continuous low does radiation?

reply to post by zookman44


Really the only good way to track an outbreak is for someone (usually a doctor, simply because they're the ones in a position to do so) to notice increases and the health department to be notified. The CDC maintains a list of infectious diseases (called Notifiable Diseases) for which every case must be reported to them, but beyond that reporting generally lies on state and local requirements.

Unfortunately, there's not really a good way for you or I to track things on our own, because the data largely isn't there and that which is generally isn't publicly available.

The key to remember is that media tends to report things that get people's attention. More reports of NF is more likely a sign of increased interest than increased cases, especially considering that the US sees somewhere in the ballpark of 1000 cases a year. Most of these never get media attention (at least not beyond local media) unless there's a good reason to (like the heroic story of the woman battling it for so long). Now if there were multiple cases in the same town/hospital close together, that would be an interesting report to see.

As for the affecting the immune system, it is very true that fairly large doses of radiation can harm the immune system. I'm not sure of the exact amounts needed, but they're fairly large quantities. Seeing how tiny the doses that Fukushima is delivering into the atmosphere, I am confident it wouldn't have any impact. If we were talking, however, about the workers cleaning up the mess at the site of the accident, that's another story entirely.