CDC sounds the alarm on 'superbugs'

There have been many 50th anniversaries to note this year, because momentous things happened during 1969.

Here’s a minor one: Michael Crichton’s best-selling science fiction novel “The Andromeda Strain” was released on May 12 of that year.

Old-timers who read the book or saw the 1971 film adaptation — or younger folks who saw the 2008 miniseries — know the plot. A satellite crashes near an Arizona town, and a sinister bacteria that hitchhiked on it from outer space wipes out all but a couple of the town’s inhabitants. An elite team of scientists is tasked with trying to keep that from happening to the rest of the planet.

We’re not at that point, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week sounded the alarm about terrestrial “superbugs” that can cause antibiotic-resistant infections.

The CDC found that close to 2.8 million people in the U.S. fall victim to such “superbugs” each year, and 35,000 of them die from those illnesses. That’s a 40% increase in frequency and a 52% increase in deaths since 2013, the last time the threat was assessed.

Five drug-resistant organisms were tagged as “urgent threats” by the CDC. People with compromised immune systems (such as cancer patients on chemotherapy), the very young and the very old are most at risk. So are those who, to help them in other ways, have something artificial placed inside their bodies — from catheters (urinary infections are a major problem) to new knees and hips.

However, scientists are concerned that more healthy people with no underlying issues are being stricken. They’re working on newer, stronger antibiotics, but they face the basic problem in this situation — they’re chasing a moving target because these “superbugs” keep mutating.

We’ve probably scared you, although our intention was to grab your attention — because scientists say individuals have a role to play in combatting this problem. Here are some of their suggestions:

• Practice basic hygiene: Wash your hands, especially if you’ve been messing with anything that could potentially contain bacteria (like raw chicken or your baby’s diapers).

• Don’t take antibiotics unless you really need them. We know it’s no fun to be sick. We know the pressures that can be brought upon folks who miss work, or are the sole caregiver for their children. We understand human beings’ innate impatience and the desire to pop a pill and “knock out” whatever ails them, or for a physician to “do something.” The reality is that sometimes there’s nothing to be done except wait for a bug to run its course. Taking antibiotics unnecessarily for things they have no effect on — you’d do just as well chewing a couple of Starburst candies in treating a cold — also can foul up the friendly germs that live in our innards and are crucial to keeping us healthy.

• Get vaccinated for things like flu and pneumonia. We can hear the anti vaxxers screeching, but again we present this as simply playing the odds. We think the chances of avoiding complications from those ailments that can kill you, or staving off “superbugs,” are far greater than suffering a statistically rare side effect if you get the shots.

• Practice safe sex. Some folks just covered their ears and started humming, but many “superbugs” are transmitted through sexual contact, including a couple on the CDC’s “urgent threat list.” Be careful.

One scientist, commenting to the media on “superbugs,” said, “This is not some mystical apocalypse or fear-mongering. It is reality,”

We hope we’ve reinforced that message.