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By: sooz
Date: 2/28/98 8:36:42 PM
# Replies: 30
Ok, seriously... do any of y'all know about the Streptacoccus A thing that's wiping folks out here in central Texas?
The "officials" keep telling us it's not an epidemic, and to keep washing our hands, but that frankly, they have no idea where it comes from.
17 people are listed as having died from this thing in Travis County (my county), and those are only the publicized ones. I know of one from the hospital I worked at that's not on that list.
It goes something like this: Ya think ya got da flu, or a scratchy throat, or just a bug. By evening, it's worse, so you go to the Corner Clinic (not to be confused w/Diamond Shamrock, the Corner Store), and they say "Uh, this is over our heads. You go on to the emergency room now, dear." Ya show up at the ER at 10 p.m., and you're dead by 3 a.m. (WARNING: I'm about to be excessively gross... move on if you get queasily easily.)
The guy I have firsthand info about did the above. When they did CPR on him at the end, his blood went wacky and wonuldn't coagulate, and every time they did a compression for CPR, blood came out his ears, nose, mouth and eyes. Yeah, eyes. Sounds like a Stephen King book.
So, does anyone know anything at all about this? Have y'all heard about it?
Response #1
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 2/28/98 10:11:43 PM
Freaky.
Response #2
By: Ralf
Date: 3/1/98 1:28:44 PM
Does strep really do that?
Sounds more like ebola.
Response #3
By: rorschach
Date: 3/1/98 3:34:57 PM
strep A does.... its a nasty one. it's been swapping plasmids (the bacterial way of swapping dna fragments with other life forms) with some pretty diverse bacteria, some have picked up antibiotic resistance and lots of other neat tricks. It is the one known as "fleash eating bacteria" thanks to the british tabloids. but there are a few things to keep in mind sooz:
1. This is NOT a new bug... it has been around a while, but it has not garnered alot of media attention until recently.
2.the fact that more and more antiboitic resistant strains are appearing is fuelling this media bonfire as well.
3.third, the CDC (& Prevention) in atlanta changed the way it requires reporting of this disease as a result, the statistics jump because now doctors are REQUIRED to report it to the CDC, whereas before they were not and since most doctors would look into your throat, figure you probably have some kind of bacterial infection as start you on antibiotics immediately without really TESTING to see if you had strep.
now with the new guidelines about antibiotic use coming down from on high, doctors are:
A)reluctant to prescribe antibiotics unless they are SURE you have a bacterial infection. and as a result most cases get pretty bad before they are diagnosed and going hand in hand with that.
B)strep testing is somewhat expensive and most insurance carriers don't want to pay for it and bacterial culturing (for those bacteria that AREN'T strep)is even worse because it takes 10-14 days to do and it has to be kept in a warm dark moist place so it can breed and then it has to be examined by a trained microbiologist to determine what the bacteria IS. by that time you have probably fought the infection off anyway. Moot point.
To add insult to injury, most pharmaceutical companies cut WAY back on R&D into anti-infectives during the 70's and 80's because they figured they had the bacteria by the balls and pretty soon there weren't going to BE anymore bacterial infections so it wasn't cost effective to develop new drugs to fight them. then the drug resistant strains started appearing and the drug companies were caught with wet dicks in their hands. they had had so much fun developing the antihistimines and cardiac drugs that they didn't even have much in the way of intellectual resources to reconstitute the anti-infectives research (I.E. they layed off all the smart antibiotic people).
most of the AIDS research moeny went to rebuild the drug company's R&D department, not to develop new drugs per-se.
Response #4
By: sooz
Date: 3/1/98 4:35:10 PM
Ror*, where do you GET this information? You're quoting stuff right and left, but not citing any resources.
I work(ed) in a hospital for many years, until very recently. No one's afraid to prescribe any antibiotics. 9 out of 10 patients come out of the E.R. with an Rx for an antibiotic.
For the last year I was there, I fought with insurance companies for a long time. None of them had a problem paying for the testing.
The guy that died the other morning... his culture came back in an hour. They didn't have to do the petri dish to find out what it was.
This current epidemic in central Texas IS a new thing. Strep has been around forever, yes... but the old, crusty doctors that have been practicint as long s some of Fang's underwear in the back of his drawer say they have never seen anything like this. It kills faster and is more wide-spread than anything they've ever seen.
Again, where do you get your info? You're starting to remind me of the conspiracy-theory guy on King of the Hill.
Response #5
By: Cleotis
Date: 3/1/98 5:04:37 PM
Art Bell has been talking about this on his radio show for MONTHS! The emergency rooms in Cali are FULL, and they're not exactly sure (at least not until recently) what it is. They're all denying an epidemic of any type, but nurses and doctors are in the western US are asking what the heck is going on!
Art's right about the epidemic. He's right about a lot of other things, too!
Response #6
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 3/1/98 10:28:27 PM
So, this would be a bad time to bring up the fact I'm sick, huh?
Nasal congestion, cough, fever, sinus headache, general lack of the will to live.
Started Thursday as sinus drainage and headache.
Has progressed to the above.
Does Gowan have medical insurance? No, he does not.
I feel like my blood coagulates nicely, though.
Oh, and NOTHING I've taken seems to help. Over the past few days I've tried SemprexD, Entex, Biaxin, Sudafed, Nyquil, Afrin and Theraflu.
Zero effect. No drainage, no decongestion, continued nonproductive cough.
My medicine cabinet is running low on things to try.
So, am I gonna die or WHAT?
Response #7
By: sooz
Date: 3/2/98 7:34:08 PM
You've had it 5 days? Nah, if you were gonna die, you would have by now.
The big common denominator seems to be fever. Do you have one over 101 that doesn't behave nicely when whacked with Tylenol?
Response #8
By: Homer The Brave
Date: 3/3/98 5:52:15 AM
Art Bell is in cahoots with the chupacabra!
Response #9
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 3/3/98 12:13:33 PM
Nope. The fever is about the only thing that will dow down to any of the convention drug warfare I have.
I have some new troops coming to the front line, though: Claritin-D and PCE 500.
Wish me luck.
Response #10
By: rorschach
Date: 3/4/98 8:38:45 AM
strep testing only requires a throat swab, OTHER bacteria require the petri dish. I'm sorry if i didn't make that plain before. the guidelines concerning antibiotic use come both from the AMA and the CDC. Many doctors are disregarding these guidelines because the patients expect to get antibiotics whether they will do any good at all. and yes insurance companies balk at paying ANYTHING no matter how necesarry, I've dealt with enough insurance companies PERSONALLY to know that the people who handle the claims are idiots that barely graduated high school and are paid minimum wage and don't CARE if you live or die. besides ER doctors are usually in a hurry and dont WANT you to be hanging around for an hour whether someone pays or not. they want you in and out of there in as little time as possible. and those people who go to ER's for what usually starts out looking like a cold are those who don't have a primary care doctor and probably don't have insurance either so there is pressure from hospital administration to care for the patient as cheaply as possible in this situation because the hospital will probably end up eating the cost and hospitals are BUSINESSES first and foremost who do not LIKE loosing money. the point of the previous post was that the media are fuelling the fervor not the facts. there ARE some facts that are mitigating against cool-headedness and i spelled many of them out.
Response #11
By: sooz
Date: 3/4/98 8:06:05 PM
Uh, ok.
Response #12
By: jjhitt
Date: 3/5/98 2:43:35 AM
> Art Bell has been talking about this on
> his radio show for MONTHS!
Art Bell should have taken a ride on the UFO behind Hale-Bopp.
Response #13
By: Hijinx
Date: 3/5/98 5:55:37 PM
Art and those wacky chupacabras...and their crazy diseases and stuff...man, do I love 'em.
Response #14
By: rorschach
Date: 3/5/98 8:20:04 PM
sorry sooz, hope i didn't gag you jumping down your throat like that... just the business end of the medicine really chaps my ass most of the time. don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the profession, in fact i considered becoming one at one time, but the fact that there's a bunch of bean counters telling the people what and who they can treat and HOW... just gets my knickers in a twist.
a couple examples:
When my daughter was born, becky was pre-eclamptic with sustained BP of over 200 even with BP meds. the doctor performed an emergency c-section 6 weeks early because the placenta had aged and was not nourishing the fetus adequately. Jennie stayed in Texas Childrens for three weeks. our insurance at the time would pay childbirth costs only if there was a complication during the pregnancy. the BITCH at the insurance claims office had the GALL to say that she thought becky had elected to have a c-section because it was "easier"....not because both her and the baby were about to die.... THAT had nothing to do with it....YEAH RIGHT! and it was so easy on her that she couldn't even WALK FULLY UPRIGHT for three months... example #2... this just two months ago.... Jennie (who is now 4) had her tonsils and adenoids out back in january, as per his NORMAL PROCEDURE... the ENT had her tonsils and adenoids sent to pathology for analysis. the insurace co. (different co than above) insists that those tests were unwarranted and has disallowed the claim. meaning *I* have to pay for it.... what idiots!
Response #15
By: Ralf
Date: 3/5/98 8:54:48 PM
Sometimes, Oscar our weiner dog goes outside to pee and something in the bushes *RUSTLES*. He barks like crazy. We laugh and say he's barking at chupacabra.
Sometimes in the middle of the frenzied barking he starts to poop.
If that happens, he is known as the Poopacabra for the rest of the night...
Response #16
By: Hijinx
Date: 3/5/98 10:00:59 PM
LOL!!! Viva Poopacabra!!!
Response #17
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 3/5/98 10:32:44 PM
Top two stories on Houston local news tonight:
Local outbreak of Menengitis.
Local cases of Strep A increase.
Anybody seen my copy of Virus Hunters of the CDC around?
Response #18
By: sooz
Date: 3/5/98 11:28:47 PM
I'd wonder about the ENT that did that. Doctors don't go yanking organs just on general principle with no clinical evidence that they're a problem. It probably shouldn't have been paid for.
Response #19
By: rorschach
Date: 3/6/98 12:25:51 PM
oh there was adequate evidence that they needed to go... she had been having throat and ear infections pretty steadily for quite a while and the antibotics would knock it back until the course of meds ended and then they'd flare up again two days later. she's been fine since she got over the surgury. obviously that did the trick. you can't argue with results. her tonsils had atrophied and swollen quite a bit and were harboring normal mouth bacteria in the folds where they could breed like rabbits, same for the adenoids, which swelled up and closed off the eustacian (sp?) tubes making her inner ear into yet ANOTHER breeding ground for bacteria. and as for the pathology, it is better to look and find nothing than to not look and there be something worthy of finding. it COULD have been cancer or a cyst that caused the swelling, not LIKELY but possible, so it was worth looking to make sure. they ARE lymph nodes after all and we know how much cancer likes to hide in lymph nodes....
Response #20
By: Ralf
Date: 3/7/98 8:13:04 PM
"Streptacoccus A" is such a sterile, woosey name for a disease.
People would pay more attention if it were something like "Explosive Dimemberment Fever" or "25 Second Virus" or even "Streptacoccus Adolph".
Marketing!
Response #21
By: rorschach
Date: 3/11/98 8:59:01 PM
hence the term "flesh eating bacteria"... from a british tabloid.... the thing about it is, the group A strep bacteria has been known (more or less) for a couple hundred years. it is the newer invasive group A strep that attacks the internal organs and causes toxic shock and causes you to bleed like a stuck pig that is fairly new, but the news media haven't quite wrapped thier tiny little minds around that yet. sounds rather like ebola or marburg don't it? makes you wonder what creatures that strep bug has been sharing plasmids with don't it? and if it was accidental.....
Response #22
By: sooz
Date: 3/11/98 9:13:56 PM
Flesh eating bacteria is the name given to necrotizing fasciitis, which is different than the whole Strep deal. Necrotizing fasciitis not only sounds cool as it rolls off the tongue, it really DOES eat flesh. Look 'er up. Yum yum.
Response #23
By: Gowan McGland
Date: 3/11/98 9:21:00 PM
In case anyone was wondering, I lived.
'round about Friday, I started feeling better. I dunno if it was my new troops in the war against illness or if I had finally run my course.
I was gonna go out Friday night, but I realized that I always seem to feel better and go about things as normal and I always end up getting sick again.
So, I was smart this time and stayed in all weekend. Now I feel GREAT!
Well, as great as I usually feel which is pretty crappy.
Response #24
By: Cleotis
Date: 3/11/98 9:51:14 PM
I wish someone would discover a fat-eating virus. I'd participate in high-risk behavior every day if there were one out there!
Response #25
By: rorschach
Date: 3/12/98 9:03:10 AM
Actually sooz, "necrotizing fasciitis" is the description of the disease not what causes it. sort of like tonsilitis, it describes the condition without naming a cause. (itis meaning inflammation, necrotizing meaning "killer" so it means "inflammation that kills tissue of the fasci" ). so sooz, we are both right....
Response #26
By: sooz
Date: 3/12/98 11:43:19 AM
Ok, I gotta ask.
Ror, is there a field you're NOT an expert in?
Response #27
By: Zane T. Dark
Date: 3/13/98 8:44:37 AM
Only the one's that mix wine-tasting with urology, I'm sure. Right Ror?
(Zane always shoots for the 'undeniable' when the 'questionable' is still suspect.)
Response #28
By: Ralf
Date: 3/14/98 8:40:13 PM
BONUS: Which of the following is an acceptable political maneuver?
1. Undeniable questionability?
2. Questionable deniability?
3. Deniable Wessonality?
4. Counsel as advised me not to respond at this time.
Response #29
By: Zane T. Dark
Date: 3/15/98 9:59:55 AM
Deniable Wessonality (singing) "That chief of staff has a certain, Wessonality.."
Response #30
By: rorschach
Date: 3/15/98 8:58:27 PM
In response to sooz's question I have the following diatribe:
lets see... art? couldn't care less... architecture... aside from the structural part... not interested.... music? i like what i like but thats about it.... but gimme a field that involves science and I'm happy as a clam... ( I know... who can tell WHEN clams are happy...) there are some fields in science that i can't muster much enthusiasm for... such as mathmatics, paelantology (SP?), anthropology, the field of psychology has lost touch with its roots so i really don't consider it a science anymore.
physics is the universal language of science. if you understand physics at a gut level you can understand just about any of the physical sciences and all of thier applications. you may not be able to sit down and design an atom bomb but you can understand how it works. Biology is a little different but again, if you read and learn enough about the fundamentals the rest is application.
people, especially people in the medical field always seem suprised when I make it clear that I understand what they are saying and they can be more detailed if they like, I won't get lost, or if I do, I will ask questions instead of nodding my head and looking silly. the body is just a machine, it follows physical laws. I have spent my life designing machines, why wouldn't i be interested in how this machine works?
the bottom line is this, the day I stop educating myself, is the day they toss me into the incinerator or throw dirt in my face. learning is my one true passion. I let my mind go wherever it wanders, i get it totally lost and them make it find it's way back home again. if i do not come away with some added knowledge then the trip has been a failure. can you say you are as passionate about something? what is life without passion?