MRSA threat....Daily Mail

[AgentAnia]

I can't bear to read the Daily Fail, but here's another version of this story: theconversation. com/vapour-from-e-cigarettes-makes-mrsa-bacteria-more-aggressive-26831 Clive Bates's comment is special...

Remember that MRSA is a virus, whereas PG is antibacterial. [ETA this is incorrect. See DrMA's post below.] Also note that the researcher is out of UC San Diego (though I strongly there's a UCSF Stan hand in there somewhere).

My first (and lasting) reaction when I read this is: Where are the real-world results of this alleged situation? Where are the reports that vapers are dropping in droves from MSRA? Where are the ANTZ pronouncements that vaping causes reduced resistance to infection?

I've been reading up on ecigs and vaping for a year and a half now and nowhere have I seen reports on this. Which leads me to believe this is just the latest tactic thought up by sufferers of the dreaded ANTZ virus, otherwise known as (h/t Hulamoon) "the horribly virulent Moronic Ridiculous Stan Attack." Otherwise, the ANTZ would have been all over it before now.

 

[sonicdsl]

Well, I don't get colds since vaping. Ever. There've been lots of reports in ECF over the years re that phenomenon. I've wondered a little about implications of that happy little perc, but you know, gift horse.

Me too! Well, mostly... I used to get colds 2-3 times a year or more, one or two around Christmas like clockwork for at least 10 years before vaping. Since switching, it was about 2.5 years before I got another cold. (Had a bad one around November, but didn't last long, even though it was strong).

So far, I definitely like that aspect!

 

[patkin]

Call me a Pollyanna if you will but I see this as a good thing: It means Glantz is desperate!

 

[DrMA]

Sorry, Ania, that's incorrect. MRSA is a bacterium, not a virus: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[AgentAnia]

Sorry, Ania, that's incorrect. MRSA is a bacterium, not a virus: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I stand corrected... and will correct my post.

 

[CactusRose]

I just saw a segment about this on Fox News. Sloppy reporting, sloppy science, and no good questions at all. Media seems determined to demonize this and what? Send us back to cigarettes? The only thing that makes sense is to follow the money and realize that health has zero to do with any of it. Very discouraging.

 

[crxess]

I wonder how long they gave the mice to get used to Vaping instead of smoking before running those test?

Odds on, they super-infected just like they do with every other test to maximize results.

I actually feel a bit sorry for the mice.

* Note - after Flu every year for over 10 years, since I started Vaping, not even a serious cold - and I'm 60.

 

[aubergine]

Try babysitting toddlers who go to day care. That can overcome even vaping!

Actually, for much of the time I've been vaping I've lived with a toddler and a day care teacher (daughter, granddaughter). They caught everything. I caught nothing. I was also a pt hospice worker - the nurses were always catching stuff from our vulnerable population. Not me. And previously I'd seemed especially vulnerable, made jokes about my deficient immune system. Given the numbers of other vapers reporting the same thing, I'm pretty clear that it's no coincidence.

Not drawing any conclusions beyond that. We have enough on our hands.*

*erm...

 

[Bobbilly]

Write to the daily mail. It seems you have put the same effort into your study

 

[Mrs C]

This past winter is the first one I have not had pneumonia in about 20 years. Every year I have caught a chest cold that morphed to bronchitis then pneumonia.

This past winter the only thing I got was a bit of a GI bug that my son brought home from school, and a few days of sniffles that never did turn into a real cold.

They can believe their research, I'll believe mine until I see different results.

 

[Katya]

I stand corrected... and will correct my post.

Propylene glycol has anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties--it's often used in food and cosmetics preservation.

 

[Jman8]

M. Zeller (to S. Glantz): See! This is why we couldn't cite any of your data in the proposed regulations. You are an embarrassment to the good name of science. Seriously, just stop.

 

[Nate760]

Propylene glycol has anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties--it's often used in food and cosmetics preservation.

Yup. PG is pretty much the last thing in the world that would contribute to the propagation of any communicable disease. Either that or every hospital/clinic/nursing home in the civilized world has been secretly trying to kill its patients for the last 30 years.

 

[Bobbilly]

Yup. PG is pretty much the last thing in the world that would contribute to the propagation of any communicable disease. Either that or every hospital/clinic/nursing home in the civilized world has been secretly trying to kill its patients for the last 30 years.

They have contributed to the superbug!!! Let's see if this report has fear mongering effect on the air sanitizer world now.

 

[Nate760]

They have contributed to the superbug!!! Let's see if this report has fear mongering effect on the air sanitizer world now.

This is a pretty brilliant feat of moral panic-association when you think about it. What better way to stoke public fears about something than by finding a way to tangentially associate it with something else ("superbugs") that people traditionally love going into hysterics about?

 

[DrMA]

They have contributed to the superbug!!! Let's see if this report has fear mongering effect on the air sanitizer world now.

This is a pretty brilliant feat of moral panic-association when you think about it. What better way to stoke public fears about something than by finding a way to tangentially associate it with something else ("superbugs") that people traditionally love going into hysterics about?

If we were to stoop to their level, we would have our own press release regarding this study: "New study shows sanitation practices in hospitals increase the virulence of superbugs"

 

[TomCatt]

Another article referencing this; but with a quote from Carl Phillips:

usnews.com/news/articles/2014/05/19/study-e-cigarette-vapor-toughens-mrsa-superbug

Less 'response' from MRSA with e-cig vapor vs tobacco smoke.

BEST quote ever about the Glantzers:

“This appears to be a classic case of academics who have one hammer in their toolbox and use it to hit whatever happens by,” says Carl V. Phillips, scientific director of the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association, a grass-roots advocacy group of e-cigarette users.
“That is fine so long as this is reported only to other scientists who can make use of the information,” he says, “[but] putting it out to the public as if it has worldly implications is inappropriate.”

 

[Berylanna]

If we were to stoop to their level, we would have our own press release regarding this study: "New study shows sanitation practices in hospitals increase the virulence of superbugs"

Sorry, but that is a VERY old story. A friend of mine died from "hospital staph" in the 1960's and it's getting a LOT worse, everywhere, including Britain.

The newer story (last 5 years or so) is that antibacterial soaps increase the virulence of germs in the home. They are officially recommended-against by scientists, except for temporarily if someone in the home is really infectious. Those stories should be EASY to find.

So: don't smoke for sure, don't vape, DON'T USE MOST SOAPS NOW ON THE MARKET. I have to look twice to find a "normal" soap. IMO antibacterial dishwashing soap is much worse.

NOTE: NORMAL soap is antibacterial but not by adding antibacterial chemicals. Bacteria are one-celled animals with a lot of internal pressure. Soap can POP them, by getting rid of surface tension, which is part of their structure. It also sends them and viruses down the drain but un-sticking them from your hands etc.

 

[aubergine]

Sorry, but that is a VERY old story. A friend of mine died from "hospital staph" in the 1960's and it's getting a LOT worse, everywhere, including Britain.

The newer story (last 5 years or so) is that antibacterial soaps increase the virulence of germs in the home. They are officially recommended-against by scientists, except for temporarily if someone in the home is really infectious. Those stories should be EASY to find.

So: don't smoke for sure, don't vape, DON'T USE MOST SOAPS NOW ON THE MARKET. I have to look twice to find a "normal" soap. IMO antibacterial dishwashing soap is much worse.

NOTE: NORMAL soap is antibacterial but not by adding antibacterial chemicals. Bacteria are one-celled animals with a lot of internal pressure. Soap can POP them, by getting rid of surface tension, which is part of their structure. It also sends them and viruses down the drain but un-sticking them from your hands etc.

Since reading this I've not lathered up without noting that I'm popping bacteria.

I think I can hear them.