World News and Trends: Supergerm resists antibiotics
Health researchers are studying something they hoped they would never see, a deadly staph bacterium that can resist every drug in science's infection-treatment arsenal.
The bacterium, staphylococcus aureus, is the cause of most hospital infections, including pneumonia and blood poisoning. In America alone some two million such infections develop every year.
Physicians had not faced the possibility of widespread, untreatable bacterial infections since penicillin came into general use in the 1940s. Since then, bacteria have shown a seemingly relentless ability to develop resistance to antibiotics. For example, by the 1950s almost half of known strains of staph aureus had grown resistant to penicillin. Scientists successfully gained the upper hand again with the introduction of methicillin in the 1960s, but in the 1970s some strains of staph had become resistant to this drug as well. Vancomycin, the last drug known to be effective against these other antibiotic-resistant strains, had proved effective for 30 years.
Discovery of this antibiotic-resistant strain prompted an instant worldwide alert among scientists and researchers. "We have a situation which is very worrisome," commented Fred Tenover, laboratory chief for the hospital-infections branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The newly isolated strain showed resistance to the last line of antibiotic defense for certain strains of bacteria. "If we're climbing the ladder," said Mr. Tenover, "we're almost to the roof."
Dr. Robert Haley, former head of the CDC's hospital-infections branch, added, "I can't emphasize enough: This is a major turn for the worse in the fight against infection."
Researchers fear that this new strain could claim many lives in the years it takes to develop new effective antibiotics. (Sources: The Dallas Morning News, The Chicago Tribune.)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: September - October 1997
Course Content
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
Scott Ashley
Scott Ashley was managing editor of Beyond Today magazine, United Church of God booklets and its printed Bible Study Course until his retirement in 2023. He also pastored three congregations in Colorado for 10 years from 2011-2021. He and his wife, Connie, live near Denver, Colorado.
Mr. Ashley attended Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas, graduating in 1976 with a theology major and minors in journalism and speech. It was there that he first became interested in publishing, an industry in which he worked for 50 years.
During his career, he has worked for several publishing companies in various capacities. He was employed by the United Church of God from 1995-2023, overseeing the planning, writing, editing, reviewing and production of Beyond Today magazine, several dozen booklets/study guides and a Bible study course covering major biblical teachings. His special interests are the Bible, archaeology, biblical culture, history and the Middle East.
