Latest / Culture Positive: An Infection Prevention Podcast / Lessons from the grave
Transcript
- Ally: Welcome to Culture Positive, an infection prevention podcast where healthcare, public health, and real life meet. I'm Allie, and by day I work in infection prevention at an academic hospital, bringing my background in epidemiology and public health into everyday practice. Each week, We'll dive into healthcare stories, public health conversations, workplace realities, and the human side of this work. This is a space for curiosity, honesty, and hopefully some inspiration. I'm glad you're here. I love to travel and experience new places and cultures. Something I inherited from my mom, hi merms, is that whenever I'm traveling, I make a point to visit an old church and cemetery. There's so much history waiting to be discovered. Walking through an old cemetery offers a glimpse into what life once looked like. Reading the names on the headstones, learning someone's occupation, or seeing how they passed away tells a story that might otherwise be forgotten. It's an important reminder that every person lived a full life with hope, hardships, and a place in history. I think as a society, we could do a better job of understanding the past and honoring those who came before us. History isn't something to memorize, it's something to learn from. And speaking of learning, there is some pretty fascinating work being done regarding antibiotic resistance. It sounds like the start of a bad dad joke, but it involves a priest, a grave, and healing dirt. Happy spooky season, everyone. Let's get into it. January 2, 1842. Two young men began a journey to find healing clay in the hopes of helping a relative who had survived tuberculosis but had left a painful abscess on their neck. They were in search of the grave of a deceased Catholic priest who was buried in the Sacred Heart Church Cemetery in Northern Ireland. The priest they were looking for is James McGurr. Who died in 1815 at the age of 70. During his life, he was known as a priest with healing gifts. it is said that he told his parishioners on his deathbed After I die, the clay that covers me will cure anything that I cured when I was with you. There was a belief that the soil would help alleviate pain and wounds, hence, the two young men who were in search of the healing clay. There are still visitors to the grave today, and you will find a wooden post by the priest's headstone with instructions on how to take a sample of the blessed dirt. Only one spoonful of soil should be removed and must be returned to the grave on the fourth day. According to legend, the soil must be returned within four days or you will experience very bad luck. History and legends always seem to find a way back into present day. Swansea University Medical School in Wales recently discovered that the dirt over Fathermickur has antibiotic properties that may be used to help with antibiotic resistant bacteria. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a major global health threat. This happens when bacteria develops the ability to survive medications that are designed to kill them or stop them from growing. Antibiotic resistance falls under a broader umbrella called antimicrobial resistance. Bacteria aren't the only organisms that can develop resistance. Fungi, parasites, and even viruses can develop resistance to the medications used to treat them. Bacteria can naturally develop resistance over time, but certain human behaviors can also accelerate the process. One of the biggest contributors is the overuse and misuse of antibiotics. Antibiotics don't work against viral infections, so if you have a common cold, for example, antibiotics aren't going to help. Taking antibiotics when they are not needed can cause side effects and contribute to the development and spread of antibiotic resistance. When bacteria becomes resistant to antibiotics, treatment options can become more limited. This can make infections harder to treat and increase the risk of complications. Patients may experience longer hospital stays, more medication-related side effects, and higher medical cost. In some cases, these infections can be fatal. You may also hear the term superbugs when people talk about drug-resistant organisms. This term is commonly used to describe bacteria that are resistant to multiple antibiotics, making infections more difficult to treat. One well-known example is MRSA which stands for methillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. Methicillin is an antibiotic related to penicillin. Despite its name, MRSA is often resistant to several other antibiotics. including many penicillin-related drugs and some cephalosporines. Some strains are also resistant to other antibiotic classes, which can make treatment particularly challenging. MRSA can also cause serious infections. And if you listened to our guest episode with Justin McKay, Ringworm in the OR, you might remember Justin mentioning a friend who has been dealing with MRSA for several years. From what Justin shared, this has created ongoing complications with care and concerns about mortality. One particularly serious form of MRSA infection. Occurs when the bacteria enters the bloodstream, causing bacteremia. MRSA bloodstream infections can have substantial mortality, with estimates varying depending on patient population, severity of illness, and other factors, but published estimates for MRSA bacteria have ranged from approximately 20 to 50% mortality in certain populations. And this brings us back to infection prevention. MRSA is one of the organisms hospitals may monitor as a part of their infection prevention efforts. Infection preventionists work alongside clinical teams to reduce the risk of infections, particularly when patients have invasive devices, such as a central line. Why does that matter? A central line provides direct access to the bloodstream, creating a potential route for microorganisms to enter the body. If a patient develops a bloodstream infection involving a resistant organism like MRSA treatment can become much more complicated. This is one of the reasons why infection prevention matters so much. We're not just tracking organisms or monitoring infection rates. We're working to prevent infections that can have serious consequences for patients. And when we're talking about antimicrobial resistance, preserving effective treatment options can be lifesaving. So how does a superbug become a superbug? Well, MRSA's origin story starts with the OG antibiotic, penicillin. Penicillin became widely used in the 1940s, but Staph aureus eventually developed resistance to it. That meant scientists needed other antibiotics to treat these infections. Enter methicillin, an antibiotic introduced in 1959, specifically to treat infections caused by penicillin-resistant Staph aureus. Just two years later in 1961, researchers in the United Kingdom reported staph aureus isolates that were resistant to methicillin. Reports from other countries soon followed. See a pattern happening here? The first documented MRSA outbreak in the United States occurred in 1968 at a hospital in Boston. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and into the 90s, MRSA became an increasingly important problem. And healthcare settings around the world. Most recognized cases were associated with hospitals or other healthcare exposures. Then in the late 1990s, we began seeing MRSA infections acquired in the community, including among people without traditional healthcare-associated risk factors. MRSA was no longer just a hospital problem. A superbug indeed. And this brings us to the bigger picture. Antimicrobial resistance isn't just a problem for individual hospitals. it's a global public health crisis. In 2021, bacterial antimicrobial resistance was associated with an estimated 4.71 million deaths worldwide, with approximately 1.14 million deaths directly attributable to it. To put that into perspective, that's millions of lives affected by infections that become increasingly difficult to treat. We also know that antibiotic consumption has increased substantially. One major global study found that the antibiotic consumption increased by 65% between 2000 and 2015. And looking ahead, projections suggest that annual deaths directly attributable to antimicrobial resistance could reach approximately 1.91 million by 2050. So, why don't we just develop new antibiotics to solve this problem? Unfortunately, developing a new drug is a long, expensive process. It can take 10 to 15 years to bring a drug to market, and the financial investment can reach billions of dollars. But there's another challenge with antibiotics. Unlike medications for chronic conditions, which patients may take for years. Antibiotics are often prescribed for relatively short courses, and once a new antibiotic becomes available, healthcare professionals want to preserve its effectiveness by limiting its use to situations where it's genuinely needed. Pharmaceutical companies have to invest in developing a new antibiotic, but sales may be limited by short-term courses and the need to protect the drug resistance. As a result, there has historically been limited financial incentives for companies to invest in antibiotic development. But scientists are still looking for solutions. And sometimes those solutions can come from a pretty unexpected place. Enter a priest's grave in Northern Ireland. Researchers from Swansea University investigated soil collected from the burial site of Father Joseph McGurr in Northern Ireland. They identified a previously undescribed strain of Streptomyces, a group of bacteria known for producing compounds with antimicrobial activity. Why is this exciting? Because this particular strain showed the ability to inhibit several drug-resistant bacterial pathogens. In laboratory testing, the researchers found activity against four Of the six major drug-resistant pathogens they investigated, including VRE, MRSA Klebsi L pneumoniae, and Carbapenum resistant Encetobacter buamni. Now, maybe you know more about dirt than me, but I was thinking, how does soil have antibiotics? Maybe I should have paid more attention in my environmental study classes. Anyway, soil is a diverse ecosystem filled with microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi. These microorganisms are constantly competing with one another for resources and space. To help them survive, some produce natural compounds that inhibit the growth of competing microbes. Some of these compounds are what we know as antibiotics. This makes soil an incredibly important place to look for potential new antibiotics. Different environments contain different microbial communities, meaning the organisms living in one patch of soil might produce compounds that we wouldn't find somewhere else. And this brings us back to streptomyces, the bacterium identified in the soil collected from Father McCur's burial site. Streptomyces is an interesting bacteria in the fact that they are non-modal. meaning it cannot move on its own. They just sit there. the streptomyoces have learned to protect and defend their area, their environment, from unwanted microorganisms. And one way some streptomyoces species compete is by producing antimicrobial compounds that inhibit other microbes. That's part of what makes this group of bacteria so exciting to researchers. A single streptomyosis strain can potentially produce multiple compounds, meaning scientists may have more than one potential antimicrobial discovery from a single patch of land. The hope is that this soil could produce not just one antibiotic. But has the possibility to produce several antibiotics. Maybe there is something to this over 100-year legend. Now, before you start thinking we've discovered a miracle cure, there's an important distinction here. Showing that a bacterium can inhibit other bacteria in laboratory testing doesn't automatically mean we've discovered a new antibiotic that is safe and effective in humans. Further research is needed to determine whether they could eventually be developed into treatments. Still, It's a fascinating discovery, and the location makes the story even more interesting. The Sacred Heart Church stands on a site with a long history of Christian worship, dating back almost 1,500 years. And the surrounding area contains ancient archaeological features, including Neolithic stone carvings. The region known as Boho has distinctive limestone grasslands and a unique natural environment. Jerry Quinn, a scientist involved in this research, was interested in the area's unusual plant life and wondered whether its distinctive environment might also support unusual microorganisms. And that curiosity led researchers to investigate the soil above Father Micker's grave. The search for solutions to one of our biggest public health challenges begins with a simple question. What might we discover if we look somewhere unexpected? For our huddle corner, a section for some takeaways before signing off, I wonder what Father McGurr would think of all of this. The soil where he rests has become a part of an important research effort to tackle a global public health problem: antimicrobial resistance. But while we continue to search for the next breakthrough, we also have a responsibility to protect the antibiotics we already have. That means using antibiotics appropriately, avoiding unnecessary prescriptions, and continuing to prioritize infection prevention practices that help stop resistant organisms from spreading. Developing new antibiotics is important. Preventing infections and preserving the effectiveness of existing treatments are just as important. And who knows, maybe the next breakthrough in antimicrobial resistance research will come from somewhere just as unexpected as a patch of soil in Northern Ireland. Thank you for listening to Culture Positive. If you have any questions or ideas for an episode, please send me an email at CulturePositive Pod at gmail.com. You can also Thank you for listening to Culture Positive. If you have any questi Nope. find me on Instagram at CulturePositive Pod. Please like, share, and review the podcast wherever you listen. References for the episode can be found in the notes. Infection prevention is about more than policies and protocols. It's about people. Until next time, stay curious, stay compassionate, and keep building a culture that's truly positive.