MRSA Superbug

Due to the massive overuse of antibiotics such as penicillin, "superbugs" have developed that are highly resistant to the antibiotics commonly used to fight them.

One of these, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterium that can cause infection in many different parts of the body.

It is much tougher to treat than most other forms of staph infection because of the resistance that it has developed to antibiotic drugs.

The symptoms of MRSA will depend on where the infection is.

Often, it will first show up as a mild infection of the skin, such as a pimple or a boil.

But it can also cause much more serious skin infections.

This superbug can easily infect surgical wounds, the bloodstream, the lungs, or the urinary tract.

Just check out the following video report from CNN. MRSA is sweeping the United States, and analysts are saying that nearly 100,000 people in the United States could contract MRSA this year alone. In fact, CNN is saying that this may indeed be the "new AIDS".....



But MRSA is hardly the worst plague that the world may soon be facing.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that new bird flu cases have revived fears of a human pandemic.

Bird flu seems to become a bigger problem each year, but this year in particular it is hitting Asia early and it is hitting it hard. In particular, India is on the verge of a bird flu panic as rumors of human to human bird flu transmission spread.

Health authorities in Assam have placed 300,000 people under surveillance in areas where the bird flu has been spreading among poultry. Recent reports indicated that 150 people were suffering from fever and upper respiratory infections.

The bird flu virus has spread rapidly among poultry across six Assam districts. Authorities are claiming that the bird flu has now reached "epidemic" proportions among the birds of that area. More than 250,000 poultry were slaughtered in just two weeks in Assam and an estimated 150,000 more birds were ordered to be slaughtered.

India had been hoping that the bird flu would be more under control this season. The World Health Organization described the January 2008 outbreak of the bird flu in neighboring West Bengal state, when more than 4 million birds were killed, as the worst bird flu outbreak ever in India.

However, it is not just India that is having massive problems with the bird flu. The disease is causing headlines all over Asia:

*Cambodia has now confirmed a new human case of the bird flu.

*Several weeks ago a hospital in Indonesia was overwhelmed when it admitted 17 patients believed to have bird flu in just 2 days.

*A 16 year old girl in Egypt recently died after contracting the bird flu.

*The government of Hong Kong has shut down all chicken farms and markets, has killed 80,000 chickens and has halted chicken imports from mainland China after the bird flu virus was detected at a local poultry farm.

The bird flu is even popping up in the United States again. FoxNews is reporting that bird flu has been found in a duck in the state of Rhode Island.

The truth is that the bird flu is as big of a threat as it ever has been. With all of our technological advances, the reality is that a serious pandemic could still race across the earth and kill millions of us easily.

It is not just bird flu that we need to be worried about either. For the first time ever recorded, Ebola has been discovered in a pig in the Philippines. If you do not know about Ebola, then you should look it up. It is one nasty disease, and if pigs can now contract it, how long will it be before humans are able to come down with it?

Frightening days are ahead of us.

Get prepared.