The incorrect use of a disinfectant could cause some germs to develop resistance to antibiotics, new research suggests.

However, the findings haven’t been proven outside of the laboratory and they don’t suggest that there’s anything wrong with disinfectants that are used properly. "It is OK to use disinfectants. Just don’t misuse or overuse them," said study co-author Gerard T.A. Fleming.

The disinfectant, known as benzalkonium chloride, is used in a variety of skin cleansers and disinfectant products along with face creams and spermicides, said Fleming, a scientist at the National University of Ireland in Galway. "It is seen as a good disinfectant in that it generally does not harm if it comes into contact with skin," he explained.

The researchers found that the bacteria mutated and became resistant to the powerful antibiotic known as ciprofloxacin (Cipro) after being exposed to the disinfectant. Cipro is best known as a drug used to treat people with Antrhrax.

The bacteria also became resistant to the disinfectant.

There is a caveat to the research: It took place in the laboratory, not in a home or a hospital, where the germ in question is most likely to cause problems. The study doesn’t conclusively demonstrate what would happen in "the real environment." cautioned Dr. Pascal James Imperato, a professor at State University of New York Downstate Medical Center School of Public Health. Still, "the study clearly demonstrates the need for further research into this area," Imperato said.

The findings indicate that people should use disinfectants at the correct level and "not be tempted to dilute them down so that they go further in an attempt to save money," Fleming said. "Disinfectants work at the concentration stated on the bottle, but if they are diluted

to a level where microorganisms can evolve, resistance can build up."

Also, it is important to give disinfectants time to work, he noted.

"I am concerned that if we do not use disinfectants properly in the home, that might be affording microorganisms the opportunity of building up resistance to disinfectants and antibiotics," Fleming said.

"To put it simply, disinfectants are our first line of defense against harmful germs," Fleming added. "Antibiotics are our second line of defense in case of infection. Our study has shown that it is possible to corrupt the first and second line of defense. What then are we left with?"

Another study that was released last week illustrates the seriousness of the problem.

Researchers from a Washington, D.C.-based project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation reported that a particularly resistant bacteria is flourishing in hospitals across the country.

Pouring over records from 300 hospitals, the scientists found there was more than a 300 percent increase in the proportion of Acinetobacter cases resistant to the last-resort antibiotic imipenem (Primaxin) between 1999-2006.

These infections, which typically surface in patients in intensive care units, usually lead to severe pneumonias or bloodstream infections, and even powerful antibiotics can’t always stop the infection.

The study, reported online Dec.23 in the journal Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, will appear in the journal’s February print edition.

For more information about antibacterial resistance from the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

Author: Randy Dotinga, HealthDay Reporter on 12/29/2009; Tuesday Dec. 29 (HealthDay News). Discovery Health Website; http://health.discovery.com/news/healthscout/article.html. and www.discoveryhealth.com.

Eating a Westernized diet with lots of sugar and carbohydrates caused almost instantaneous changes in the gut flora of mice – changes that caused the mice to become obese, researchers have found.

"Although how much you eat and how much you exercise are dominant drivers of your energy balance, it’s possible that microbial communities and how they work also comprise a factor that determines your risk for obesity or risk for malnutrition," said study senior author Dr. Jeffrey I. Gordon, director of the Center for Genome Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

The researchers plan to use the mouse model, or "humanized" mouse, to further study the diverse organisms that reside in people’s guts and how their presence might affect their hosts’ health.

"There are 10 times more microbial cells associated with adult human bodies than there are human cells, so we are 90 percent microbial and 10 percent human," Gordon said. The bacteria can help people digest and absorb food that might otherwise be indigestible.

But, the denizens of the digestive system are hard to study, given the complex environmental, genetic and cultural factors that affect digestion and obesity.

To devise a better way to study these microorganisms, Gordon and his fellow researchers transplanted microbes from human feces into mice that, courtesy of genetic manipulation, had not gut microorganisms of their own.

"When we switched these humanized animals (from a low-fat) to a junk-food diet, high in fat and lots of simple sugars, the structure of the microbial community changed dramatically and very rapidly, not only in terms of who’s there or which species but the proportional representation of species changed very abruptly within 24 hours," Gordon explained "These mice also became obese on Western diets."

"The microbes can adjust with astonishing speed to different types of diets," he said.

And transplanting the microbes to another set of microbe-free mice also caused the new mice to gain weight, even though they were on a low-fat feeding plan.

"They also showed that the microbiota passes from generation to generation," said Jun Sun, an assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York. "This raises the question of whether we can pass microtiota from mothers to children, and the answer seems to be yes."

The findings also helped advance science, Sun said.

"In the past, scientists published very descriptive studies of the flora, but the big question was how to apply the research," she said. "I think we have jumped a big step forward. Now scientists have an established, well controlled model of the gut flora."

For more information regarding this topic the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and has more on overweight and obesity.

Author: Amanda Gardner, HealthDay Reporter on 11/11/2009; Wednesday Nov 11 (HealthDay News); http://health.discovery.com/news/healthscout/article.html; www.discoveryhealth.com.

In today’s economic upheavals, workplace stress is on everyone’s mind. Downsizing, layoffs, mergers and bankruptcies have cost hundreds of thousands of workers their jobs and cause uncomfortable, stressful situations in the workplace. Millions more workers have been shifted to unfamiliar tasks within their companies and wonder how much longer they will be employed causing a great deal of stress in the workplace for everyone.

Adding to the pressures that workers face are new bosses, computer surveillance of production, fewer health and retirement benefits, and the feeling they have to work longer and harder just to maintain their current economic status. Workers at every level are experiencing increased tension and uncertainty – and, they’re updating their resumes.

The loss of a job can be devastating, putting unemployed workers at risk for physical illness, marital strain, anxiety, depression and even suicide. Loss of a job affects every part of life, from what time you get up in the morning, to whom you see and what you can afford to do. Until the transition is made to a new position, stress is chronic.

A feeling of powerlessness is a universal cause of job stress. When you feel powerless, you’re prey to depression’s traveling companions, helplessness and hopelessness. You don’t alter or avoid the situation because you feel nothing can be done.

Secretaries, waitresses, middle managers, police officers, editors and medical interns are among those with the most highly stressed occupations – marked by the need to respond to others’ demands and timetables, with little control over other events. Common to this job, situations are complaints of too much responsibility and too little authority, unfair labor practices and inadequate job descriptions. Employees can counteract these pressures through workers’ unions or other organizations, grievance or personnel offices, or more commonly, by direct negotiations with their immediate supervisors.

Every employee should have a specific, written job description. Simply negotiating one does more to dispel a sense of powerlessness than anything else. It is a contract that you help write. You can make objections and insist upon what you do want. If there is a compromise, it’s because you agreed to it. With a clear job description, your expectations are spelled out, as are your boss’s.

A good job description is time limited. Set a specific date for a review and revision based on your mutual experience with this initial job description. If you and your boss can’t agree on what your job description should be, look for another job, either within the same company or outside. Even in these tough economic times, it is important that your job be a source of satisfaction and respect.

Remember the old saying, ― Find a job you love and you’ll never work another day in your life.‖ Most people spend about 25 percent of their adult lives working. If you enjoy what you do, you’re lucky. But if you’re the proverbial square peg – and your job is a round hole, job stress hurts your productivity and can take a serious toll on your mind and body – and ultimately your health.

Many people are in jobs they don’t like or aren’t good at. The quick answer is to get a job they like or some that better matches their skills, abilities and interest—easier said than done. Some clients have no idea what kind of job they would like or what kind of job would be better. Worse, they don’t have a clue on how to go about finding out this information.

Some jobs are inherently dangerous, and others can suddenly become so. Criminal justice personnel, firefighters, ambulance drivers, military personnel and disaster teams witness many terrible scenes and are exposed to personal danger routinely. They usually handle such incidents capably. But occasionally a particularly bad episode will stay with them, appearing in memory flashbacks and nightmares. Sleep disturbance, guilt, fearfulness and physical complaints may follow. Even ordinary jobs can become traumatic: A co-worker, boss or client physically threatens an employee; a bus crashes on a field trip; an employee is robbed or taken hostage; a shooting occurs. Such events can create post-traumatic stress disorder.

Sometimes your work setting creates a physical stress because of noise, lack of privacy, poor lighting, poor ventilation, poor temperature control or inadequate sanitary facilities. Setting where there is organizational confusion or an overly authoritarian, laissez faire or crisis-centered managerial styles are all psychologically stressful.

Act through labor or employee organizations to alter stressful working conditions. If that doesn’t work, try the courts, which have become increasingly receptive to complaints of stressful working conditions. Recent rulings created pressure for employers to provide working environments that are as stress-free as possible.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is the federal agency charged with monitoring the work environment in the interest of work safety and health. If you think your work environment is dangerous to your health and safety from a physical standpoint, give them a call.

If nothing helps and the working environment remains stressful, exercise your avoidance options and get a new job. Job hunting can be stressful, particularly in times of high unemployment – but being ground down day after day by work is far worse.