KTRS News
OFFICIALS ALARMED BY INCREASING SUPERBUG REPORTS
Wednesday, 06 March 2013 07:03 Published in Health & Fitness
NEW YORK (AP) -- Health officials are reporting an alarming increase in some dangerous superbugs at U.S. hospitals.
These superbugs from a common germ family have become extremely resistant to treatment with antibiotics. Only 10 years ago, such resistance was hardly ever seen in this group.
Infections from these superbugs are still uncommon. But in the first six months of last year, nearly 200 U.S. hospitals - about 4 percent - saw at least one case, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent reported Tuesday.
"I would call them a major threat emerging in our hospitals," said Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, an infectious disease expert at the CDC.
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."
The CDC urged hospital workers to watch for the infections and take steps to prevent passing the germs to other patients.
The report did not include better-known superbugs like the staph infection MRSA or the intestinal bug known as C-diff, which have plagued hospitals.
It 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.
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.
The bacteria usually live harmlessly in the gut but can cause pneumonia, and urinary tract and bloodstream infections if they get into other parts of the bodies of patients with weakened immune systems. As many as half the patients who get the bloodstream infections die, Srinivasan said.
However, CDC did not provide figures on deaths attributed to these superbugs.
In 2001, U.S. hospitals reported that only 1 percent of samples from the bacterial family were resistant to the antibiotic carbapenems. By 2011, it had risen to 4 percent.
It was more of an issue in the nation's 400 specialized, long-term hospitals - 18 percent of them reported seeing such a superbug. The Northeast had the most, followed by the South.
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.
--- Online:
CDC report: HTTP://WWW.CDC.GOV/VITALSIGNS
© 2013 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED. Learn more about our PRIVACY POLICY and TERMS OF USE.
These superbugs from a common germ family have become extremely resistant to treatment with antibiotics. Only 10 years ago, such resistance was hardly ever seen in this group.
Infections from these superbugs are still uncommon. But in the first six months of last year, nearly 200 U.S. hospitals - about 4 percent - saw at least one case, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent reported Tuesday.
"I would call them a major threat emerging in our hospitals," said Dr. Arjun Srinivasan, an infectious disease expert at the CDC.
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."
The CDC urged hospital workers to watch for the infections and take steps to prevent passing the germs to other patients.
The report did not include better-known superbugs like the staph infection MRSA or the intestinal bug known as C-diff, which have plagued hospitals.
It 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.
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.
The bacteria usually live harmlessly in the gut but can cause pneumonia, and urinary tract and bloodstream infections if they get into other parts of the bodies of patients with weakened immune systems. As many as half the patients who get the bloodstream infections die, Srinivasan said.
However, CDC did not provide figures on deaths attributed to these superbugs.
In 2001, U.S. hospitals reported that only 1 percent of samples from the bacterial family were resistant to the antibiotic carbapenems. By 2011, it had risen to 4 percent.
It was more of an issue in the nation's 400 specialized, long-term hospitals - 18 percent of them reported seeing such a superbug. The Northeast had the most, followed by the South.
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.
--- Online:
CDC report: HTTP://WWW.CDC.GOV/VITALSIGNS
© 2013 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED. Learn more about our PRIVACY POLICY and TERMS OF USE.
US LAWMAKERS PUSH FOR TOUGHER NKOREA SANCTIONS
Tuesday, 05 March 2013 06:27 Published in National News
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers are pushing for tougher U.S. financial restrictions on North Korea even as the U.N. Security Council moves closer to a new resolution tightening international sanctions in response to Pyongyang's latest nuclear test.
The U.S. is expected to present a draft resolution to the council Tuesday, after reaching agreement with China following three weeks of deliberations on how to respond to the North's third atomic test, U.N. diplomats said.
That's a sign of Beijing's disapproval of its troublesome ally's behavior and will be welcomed in Washington. The text of the resolution has not been made public, but there has been speculation the U.N.'s most powerful body could move to toughen financial restrictions and cargo inspections, as well as blacklisting more companies and individuals.
Earlier Tuesday, North Korea's military vowed to cancel the 1953 Korean War cease-fire, saying Washington and others are going beyond mere economic sanctions and expanding into blunt aggression and military acts. The Korean People's Army Supreme Command also warned that it will block a communications line at the border village separating the two Koreas.
In the U.S., the foreign affairs panels of both houses of Congress will consider the Obama administration's next policy options to impede Pyongyang's development of missile and nuclear weapons that are increasingly viewed as a direct threat to the United States.
On Tuesday, the Republican-led House foreign affairs panel will examine how criminal activities support North Korea's authoritarian regime. That could buttress the case for leveraging the vast reach of the U.S. financial system to pressure international banks that deal with the North.
North Korea long has been believed to have derived hundreds of millions of dollars a year from criminal activities such as counterfeiting of cigarettes and U.S. currency, drug trafficking and insurance scams. Its sales of missiles and conventional weaponry are also outlawed under existing U.N. resolutions.
Targeted U.S. financial sanctions have been tried before and have had a significant impact but upset China, the North's main source of economic support and the country where it conducts most of its trade and financial transactions. The U.S. wants Beijing to exert more pressure on North Korea, and China's willingness to agree to more U.N sanctions shows its patience is wearing thin. It remains to be seen, however, whether diplomatic action on more sanctions translates into their implementation on the ground.
There is deep frustration in Congress over the international diplomatic efforts aimed at persuading Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid. The talks, hosted by China, have been stalled since 2009. A U.S. attempt to offer food aid in exchange for nuclear concessions last year fell flat.
New North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has adopted a confrontational approach toward Washington, although he did deign to meet last week with former professional basketball star Dennis Rodman.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce said that since the Bill Clinton administration, U.S. policy toward North Korea has been a "bipartisan failure" based on the hope that North Korea would do the right thing.
The California Republican said Tuesday's hearing "will identify the best strategy for cutting off North Korea's access to hard currency in order to see real change."
Sung-Yoon Lee, professor of Korea studies at Tufts University, who was scheduled to testify, said the North's "shadowy palace economy" makes the Kim regime vulnerable to actions targeting money laundering. He suggests the Treasury Department require American banks to restrict their dealings with foreign individuals, banks, entities and even entire governments that are linked to North Korea's government.
"The Obama administration has apparently not decided on this approach, but the political climate is conducive to trying something like it," Lee said.
Marcus Noland, an expert on North Korea's economy at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the North's illicit activities continue, although their overall importance for the North's economy has declined as its international trade, particularly with China, has grown sharply. China accounts for 70 percent to 80 percent of North Korea's trade and totaled more than $7 billion in 2011.
In a rough estimate, Noland estimated that arms and illicit exports accounted for just under 10 percent of the merchandise the North traded in 2011, compared with more than 30 percent in 1999, when the economy was at a low point after years of famine. International interdiction efforts have also impeded the illicit trade, he said.
The North's improved financial standing could help explain its recent provocative behavior in conducting rocket and nuclear tests.
"If you are running a surplus and China is in your corner and won't implement U.N. embargos, then you can be provocative," Noland said. "But North Korea is heavily dependent on China, particularly for energy, and if China changes policy and literally cuts off the pipeline, then they're in real trouble."
In 2005, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Banco Delta Asia, a bank in the Chinese territory of Macau which held about $25 million in North Korean funds. Treasury accused the bank of introducing counterfeit notes and laundering funds on behalf of North Korean enterprises linked to weapons of mass destruction programs.
The 2005 action caused a ripple effect among other banks worried about being closed out of the international financial system. Yet the sanction annoyed Beijing — as well as enraging Pyongyang — and proved complicated to undo when nuclear negotiations with North Korea finally got back on track.
The U.S. could also target the North's shipping by declaring the country a criminal enterprise, making vessels carrying its goods difficult to insure and subject to search and seizure, Noland said.
Associated Press writer Edith Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
The U.S. is expected to present a draft resolution to the council Tuesday, after reaching agreement with China following three weeks of deliberations on how to respond to the North's third atomic test, U.N. diplomats said.
That's a sign of Beijing's disapproval of its troublesome ally's behavior and will be welcomed in Washington. The text of the resolution has not been made public, but there has been speculation the U.N.'s most powerful body could move to toughen financial restrictions and cargo inspections, as well as blacklisting more companies and individuals.
Earlier Tuesday, North Korea's military vowed to cancel the 1953 Korean War cease-fire, saying Washington and others are going beyond mere economic sanctions and expanding into blunt aggression and military acts. The Korean People's Army Supreme Command also warned that it will block a communications line at the border village separating the two Koreas.
In the U.S., the foreign affairs panels of both houses of Congress will consider the Obama administration's next policy options to impede Pyongyang's development of missile and nuclear weapons that are increasingly viewed as a direct threat to the United States.
On Tuesday, the Republican-led House foreign affairs panel will examine how criminal activities support North Korea's authoritarian regime. That could buttress the case for leveraging the vast reach of the U.S. financial system to pressure international banks that deal with the North.
North Korea long has been believed to have derived hundreds of millions of dollars a year from criminal activities such as counterfeiting of cigarettes and U.S. currency, drug trafficking and insurance scams. Its sales of missiles and conventional weaponry are also outlawed under existing U.N. resolutions.
Targeted U.S. financial sanctions have been tried before and have had a significant impact but upset China, the North's main source of economic support and the country where it conducts most of its trade and financial transactions. The U.S. wants Beijing to exert more pressure on North Korea, and China's willingness to agree to more U.N sanctions shows its patience is wearing thin. It remains to be seen, however, whether diplomatic action on more sanctions translates into their implementation on the ground.
There is deep frustration in Congress over the international diplomatic efforts aimed at persuading Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons program in exchange for aid. The talks, hosted by China, have been stalled since 2009. A U.S. attempt to offer food aid in exchange for nuclear concessions last year fell flat.
New North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has adopted a confrontational approach toward Washington, although he did deign to meet last week with former professional basketball star Dennis Rodman.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce said that since the Bill Clinton administration, U.S. policy toward North Korea has been a "bipartisan failure" based on the hope that North Korea would do the right thing.
The California Republican said Tuesday's hearing "will identify the best strategy for cutting off North Korea's access to hard currency in order to see real change."
Sung-Yoon Lee, professor of Korea studies at Tufts University, who was scheduled to testify, said the North's "shadowy palace economy" makes the Kim regime vulnerable to actions targeting money laundering. He suggests the Treasury Department require American banks to restrict their dealings with foreign individuals, banks, entities and even entire governments that are linked to North Korea's government.
"The Obama administration has apparently not decided on this approach, but the political climate is conducive to trying something like it," Lee said.
Marcus Noland, an expert on North Korea's economy at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the North's illicit activities continue, although their overall importance for the North's economy has declined as its international trade, particularly with China, has grown sharply. China accounts for 70 percent to 80 percent of North Korea's trade and totaled more than $7 billion in 2011.
In a rough estimate, Noland estimated that arms and illicit exports accounted for just under 10 percent of the merchandise the North traded in 2011, compared with more than 30 percent in 1999, when the economy was at a low point after years of famine. International interdiction efforts have also impeded the illicit trade, he said.
The North's improved financial standing could help explain its recent provocative behavior in conducting rocket and nuclear tests.
"If you are running a surplus and China is in your corner and won't implement U.N. embargos, then you can be provocative," Noland said. "But North Korea is heavily dependent on China, particularly for energy, and if China changes policy and literally cuts off the pipeline, then they're in real trouble."
In 2005, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Banco Delta Asia, a bank in the Chinese territory of Macau which held about $25 million in North Korean funds. Treasury accused the bank of introducing counterfeit notes and laundering funds on behalf of North Korean enterprises linked to weapons of mass destruction programs.
The 2005 action caused a ripple effect among other banks worried about being closed out of the international financial system. Yet the sanction annoyed Beijing — as well as enraging Pyongyang — and proved complicated to undo when nuclear negotiations with North Korea finally got back on track.
The U.S. could also target the North's shipping by declaring the country a criminal enterprise, making vessels carrying its goods difficult to insure and subject to search and seizure, Noland said.
Associated Press writer Edith Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
EX-DEA HEADS: FEDS SHOULD NULLIFY STATE POT LAWS
Tuesday, 05 March 2013 06:25 Published in National News
CHICAGO (AP) — Eight former Drug Enforcement Administration chiefs say the federal government needs to act now or it might lose the chance to nullify Colorado and Washington's laws legalizing recreational marijuana use.
The onetime DEA heads plan to issue joint statements Tuesday saying the Obama administration has reacted too slowly and should immediately sue to force the states to rescind the legislation.
The Associated Press received an advance copy of the statement Monday.
One of the former DEA administrators, Peter Bensinger, told the AP that the more time goes by, the harder it'll be to stop the two states. Marijuana is illegal under federal law.
Bensinger, who lives in the Chicago area, said the government must immediately sue the states or risk creating "a domino effect" in which other states follow suit.
"My fear is that the Justice Department will do what they are doing now: do nothing and say nothing," said Bensinger. "If they don't act now, these laws will be fully implemented in a matter of months."
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told a meeting of state attorneys general last week that he is still reviewing the laws but that his review is winding down. Asked Monday for a comment on the criticism from the former DEA administrators, Holder spokeswoman Allison Price would only say, "The Department of Justice is in the process of reviewing those initiatives."
The department's review has been under way since shortly after last fall's elections. It could sue to block the states from issuing licenses to marijuana growers, processors and retail stores, on the grounds that doing so conflicts with federal drug law. Alternatively, Holder could decide not to mount a court challenge.
The ex-DEA heads are issuing the statements though the Florida-based Save Our Society from Drugs, a national group lobbying against legalization. One of the group's spokesmen is based in Chicago.
The former DEA administrators are Bensinger, John Bartels, Robert Bonner, Thomas Constantine, Asa Hutchinson, John Lawn, Donnie Marshall and Francis Mullen. They served for both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Holder is scheduled to appear Wednesday before a U.S. Senate judiciary committee hearing. The former DEA chiefs want senators to question Holder on the legalization issue.
Advocates of legalization have welcomed Colorado and Washington's new laws, arguing that criminalizing drugs creates serious though unintended social problems. The ex-DEA heads say they disagree with that view.
After votes last fall, Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize marijuana's recreational use — putting federal authorities in a quandary over how, or whether, to respond.
Washington state officials responsible for creating a regulated marijuana system have said they are moving forward with a timetable of issuing producer licenses by August.
Bensinger — who served as DEA administrator under Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan — said the supremacy of federal law over state law when it comes to drug laws isn't in doubt.
"This is a no-brainer," he said. "It is outrageous that a lawsuit hasn't been filed in federal court yet."
___ Follow Michael Tarm at www.twitter.com/mtarm
The onetime DEA heads plan to issue joint statements Tuesday saying the Obama administration has reacted too slowly and should immediately sue to force the states to rescind the legislation.
The Associated Press received an advance copy of the statement Monday.
One of the former DEA administrators, Peter Bensinger, told the AP that the more time goes by, the harder it'll be to stop the two states. Marijuana is illegal under federal law.
Bensinger, who lives in the Chicago area, said the government must immediately sue the states or risk creating "a domino effect" in which other states follow suit.
"My fear is that the Justice Department will do what they are doing now: do nothing and say nothing," said Bensinger. "If they don't act now, these laws will be fully implemented in a matter of months."
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told a meeting of state attorneys general last week that he is still reviewing the laws but that his review is winding down. Asked Monday for a comment on the criticism from the former DEA administrators, Holder spokeswoman Allison Price would only say, "The Department of Justice is in the process of reviewing those initiatives."
The department's review has been under way since shortly after last fall's elections. It could sue to block the states from issuing licenses to marijuana growers, processors and retail stores, on the grounds that doing so conflicts with federal drug law. Alternatively, Holder could decide not to mount a court challenge.
The ex-DEA heads are issuing the statements though the Florida-based Save Our Society from Drugs, a national group lobbying against legalization. One of the group's spokesmen is based in Chicago.
The former DEA administrators are Bensinger, John Bartels, Robert Bonner, Thomas Constantine, Asa Hutchinson, John Lawn, Donnie Marshall and Francis Mullen. They served for both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Holder is scheduled to appear Wednesday before a U.S. Senate judiciary committee hearing. The former DEA chiefs want senators to question Holder on the legalization issue.
Advocates of legalization have welcomed Colorado and Washington's new laws, arguing that criminalizing drugs creates serious though unintended social problems. The ex-DEA heads say they disagree with that view.
After votes last fall, Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize marijuana's recreational use — putting federal authorities in a quandary over how, or whether, to respond.
Washington state officials responsible for creating a regulated marijuana system have said they are moving forward with a timetable of issuing producer licenses by August.
Bensinger — who served as DEA administrator under Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan — said the supremacy of federal law over state law when it comes to drug laws isn't in doubt.
"This is a no-brainer," he said. "It is outrageous that a lawsuit hasn't been filed in federal court yet."
___ Follow Michael Tarm at www.twitter.com/mtarm
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