Stomach virus: The new superbug spreads quickly, resists antibiotics

If you've recently had the stomach bug, the chances are that it was probably caused by the antibiotic-resistant superbug, Shigella.

Shigella sonnei is a drug-resistant bacterium that's been going around lately, and it has the CDC worried. This bug has arrived in the U.S., and may be the first of many outbreaks, which cause cramps, diarrhea and nausea.

In December, a study warned that superbugs with high resistance to antibiotics could kill 10 million people each year by 2050 unless more action is taken. This figure is higher than the global impact of cancer that currently kills between 8 million and 13 million people.

Shigella is one of the germs that causes Shigellosis, and is also known as Montezuma's revenge. It can spread when a person gets bacteria on their hands and then touches their mouth or nose. Shigella causes about 500,000 cases of diarrhea every year in the U.S. Most cases go away, but for those people with weakened immune systems, it can be deadly.

In the past year, the CDC found that nearly 90 percent of patients infected by this strain were resistant to Cipro, which is the usual drug that doctors go to for treatment of this ailment. In 2011 the FDA confirmed that 80 percent of all antibiotics used in the U.S. were dedicated to animal agriculture (livestock consumed a majority of antibiotics in their feed). The bacteria in the animals gradually develop a resistance to antibiotics, making it harder to treat humans if the bacteria were transferred from to humans from the meat that we eat.

With drug-resistant infections being harder to treat, and because shigella spreads so easily, there is concern for more and larger outbreaks. The CDC found that international travelers were largely responsible for the introduction of the strain.

McDonald's is campaigning to discontinue the use of antibiotic-fed chicken in their menus, but I think it's actually too late for this noble gesture. Since our food supply is laced with antibiotic DNA in the genetically modified food we eat, produced by the Monsanto Corporation, I doubt the problem will end any time soon. We have a time bomb planted in our food that will lead to the return of smallpox, measles and other diseases that were stamped out by the discovery of antibiotics. Take note, because we are witnessing the beginning of plagues and pestilence to come upon this nation and the world.

Faye Ruckhardt

Nesquehoning