Abusing antibiotics breeds bad bacteria
The steps the editorial "Being sensible about staph" (Oct. 19) outlines for controlling methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureusbacterial infections will probably be ineffective.
Staph bacteria are a constant inhabitant of normal skin and are everywhere in the environment around us - they can't be easily washed away.
The Sun's two recent articles on staph infections overlooked the underlying causes of bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics ("Battling the bug," Oct. 18, and "Deadly staph infection spreads," Oct. 17).
An old medical professor of mine, Theodore E. Woodward, who was an infectious disease specialist, predicted 30 years ago that waves of resistant bacteria would develop as a direct result of the overprescription of antibiotics for viral illnesses and, more significantly, the wholesale use of antibiotics in animal feed.
The mass antibiotic treatment of cattle, turkeys, chickens, pigs, etc. (and people, for that matter) allows them to be raised in crowded conditions.
This treatment of animals on a very large scale represents important bulk sales for pharmaceutical companies. And even newly invented and very effective antibiotics are immediately applied to masses of animals.
But drug resistance is encouraged when antibiotic doses are low and are not directed at eliminating specific bacteria. This allows large numbers of bacteria to survive and mutate to adapt to the drug.
Antibiotics are one of the most powerful tools of modern medicine and should be treated as such. They need to be used only when they are needed - otherwise, they become useless.
New antibiotics should be protected from the indiscriminate use that causes them to become ineffective.
The emergence of MRSA is only a warning shot from the bacterial masses.
It will soon be followed by others.
Dr. Douglas Carroll
Lutherville
The writer is a retired emergency physician.
Hospitals striving to stop infections
The Sun's articles on the rapid spread of infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria failed to note the innovative efforts by Maryland hospitals to eradicate this public health crisis ("Battling the bug," Oct. 18, and "Deadly staph infection spreads," Oct. 17).
The Maryland Patient Safety Center has been working for years with state hospitals to find effective ways to counteract this virulent strain of bacteria commonly found on the skin.
Anyone who even visits a health care facility can inadvertently spread MRSA. This can occur by way of our hands, clothes or equipment.
But Maryland hospitals have developed new rules to ensure frequent hand-washing or use of a sanitizer before hospital staff members come into contact with patients.
Hospitals are meticulously cleaning equipment and testing patients admitted to their intensive care wards for MRSA.
Ten Maryland hospitals have taken a drastically different approach called Positive Deviance, which aims to find ways that make it nearly automatic for everyone to follow infection-prevention practices.
Under this program, in one hospital, members of the clergy even started covering their Bibles with surgical caps to avoid spreading bacteria from patient to patient.
Simply placing hooks on walls outside isolation rooms has helped prompt doctors to hang their coats there and don protective gowns.
Stamping out invasive MRSA is difficult, but Maryland's hospitals are national leaders in this effort.
Our state's hospitals, as well as local health departments, schools, long-term care facilities and other health providers, will need to work in concert to battle this aggressive bug.
It is a top priority.
Dr. William F. Minogue
Elkridge
The writer is executive director of the Maryland Patient Safety Center.
Too soon to place Schaefer on pedestal
As a native Marylander and a Baltimore taxpayer, I want to protest in the strongest terms the proposed statue of former Mayor William Donald Schaefer at Harborplace ("Panel to decide on Schaefer statue at harbor," Oct. 23).
At an estimated cost of $300,000 to $400,000, the planned idolatrous image would be too much, too soon.
Let us not forget that whatever his merits or defects, Mr. Schaefer is, though elderly, still alive. The book of his life is far from closed and, with modern health care, he has time - and, to judge from recent events, inclination - to end it badly.
Yes, some people prefer to hark back to Mr. Schaefer's mayoralty, when he is credited with revitalizing the sagging economy and self-esteem of a Rust Belt city that has now allegedly blossomed into a born-again boomtown. And some fondly recall his catchphrase of "Do it now!"
But what about Mr. Schaefer's other contributions to public discourse?
His police-escorted house calls, as governor, to obscure citizen critics? His description of the Eastern Shore as an outhouse (to put the point more politely than he did)?
His outburst, as state comptroller, against immigrant workers at McDonald's whose English he found faulty? His headline-grabbing admiration of a young female aide's behind?
Are those words and deeds to be carved on the pedestal?
Let's use public resources to meet the needs of the living.
Mark Chalkley
Baltimore
Virtual slots parlor is a better option
As the legislature prepares for a special session in which slots are likely to be a major issue, I'd like to suggest a novel way to get added revenue for our state ("Leaders hopeful of OK for tax plan," Oct. 23).
Why not put a Maryland Virtual Slots Parlor on the Internet?
I can see many advantages to such an idea.
It would not require slots parlors in anyone's "back yard."
The state could begin receiving revenue right away, without waiting for slots parlors to open.
Only those people with the resources to have access to a computer could gamble.
Internet gambling would not generate large numbers of people traveling our roads so there would be no need to build more or bigger roads.
The virtual parlors could be open 24 hours a day every day, including holidays and during inclement weather.
If our legislators are bent on getting more gambling revenue, perhaps they should use some imagination and develop a better plan instead of simply copying what other states are doing.
William Smouse
Millersville
Switch won't ruin most of our TVs
While I'm not an expert on the subject, I think some misinformation about the transition to digital television broadcasting needs to be clarified ("Digital TV switch to generate ad blitz," Oct. 18).
Most important, the switch will not render analog TVs useless, especially for millions of households that receive programming by cable or satellite.
For these households, the transition should be seamless because the signal (which is usually digital already) is fed from the cable or satellite tuner box to the TV via an analog connection. There may be instances where a new tuner box will have to be issued.
Those who have analog cable TV will find their local channels converted and should receive them via coaxial cable just as they do now, or in some cases, they may be issued a cable box with an analog output.
And for those few diehards who still receive their local channels over the air, converter boxes will be available for a nominal cost, and the government is even giving away two $40 coupons per household to cover the cost of the converters.
Also, my understanding is that existing conventional antennas should be suitable to receive digital broadcast signals, except in crowded markets or those with weak signals.
Steven Shen
Baltimore
Will mischief ensue if TVs get trashed?
Once again, our government has come down from on high and slapped the little man ("Digital TV switch to generate ad blitz," Oct. 18).
Anybody with a coat hanger and a TV can get analog broadcasts. It is sheer arrogance that our Congress (whose members have a minimum salary $165,00 a year) would eliminate such a democratic form of broadcasting.
I, for one, don't feel like dropping $80 per set on a digital converter. And I know I can't afford a new TV right now.
If this switch to digital TV goes through, millions of Americans will be deprived of this great pacifying medium.
For goodness' sake, does Congress really want to risk people reading for entertainment?
Do members of Congress want poor people to start taking evening walks around the neighborhood?
People might have to get a newspaper or talk to their neighbors just to learn the day's events. Yuck.
Some unfortunate kids might end up having their parents, driven mad by TV deprivation, force on them knowledge about how to cook, garden or even make birdhouses.
And the last thing we need in this nation is more kids making birdhouses.
Craig Bettenhausen
Baltimore
Craft beer market still quite strong
Sam Sessa's article on the demise of brewpubs in Baltimore suggests that the reduction in the number of successful brewpubs is an economic response to slowing sales and the cost per square foot of production space ("City's brewpubs evaporating," Oct. 19).
But this analysis is far from accurate. In fact, sales of craft beer are at an all-time high.
In the case of the closing of Sisson's/Ryleigh's, the situation is simply that ownership changed, and the new owners are not really brewers. So it is not surprising that they came to the conclusion that the brewing space could be put to better use.
As for Degroen's Grill, the owner (who was Dutch) decided to move back to Europe several years back.
He attempted to run the brewery from afar for a while, but absentee business management proved too difficult, quality lapsed and, frankly, the value of the real estate increased to the point where it made more sense to close and sell the land than to continue brewing.
The Capitol City Brewing Co., with a Harborplace location, was facing extremely high rents and a touristy location.
While the business no doubt thrived during the summer, the location prevented it from gaining a real local following.
But the Brewer's Art continues to thrive, as does Red Brick Station.
The category is strong, and there are clearly reasons beyond Mr. Sessa's thesis that explain what has occurred in Baltimore's brewpub industry.
Hugh Sisson
Baltimore
The writer is general partner for the Clipper City Brewing Co.
Hunting not needed to manage wildlife
The comments listed in Michael Dresser's column "Letters focus on dangers of deer" (Oct. 22) are typical condescending statements from closet proponents of hunting.
But although deer are a carrier of the adult Lyme disease tick, many wildlife species carry the tick at its larval and nymph stages, which are the stages most infectious to humans.
When deer numbers are reduced, ticks tend to congregate in higher densities on the remaining deer or switch to alternative hosts (i.e., pets and humans). Ticks need to be eradicated at the larval and nymph stage when they are hosted by white-footed mice.
In considering the impact of hunting on the number of deer in our area, it is important to consider what is called the compensatory rebound effect that hunting has on deer populations.
When the does remaining after the population is reduced by hunting are left with more nutrition available, they tend to reproduce at a younger age and have lower neonatal mortality rates and greater chances of having a multiple birth.
In areas of the United States where hunting is prohibited, we still have deer, birds, squirrels and other species as well as plants, trees and dirt.
Where nature does the managing, and there is no hunting, there are no more wild animals than the land can support.
Hunting is unnecessary.
Jennifer C. Grill
Ellicott City
The writer is a spokeswoman for Animal Advocates of Howard County.
Voluntary programs can't keep bay clean
Kudos to The Sun for Tom Pelton's excellent article "An environmental game of chicken" (Oct. 14).
The article confirms what the data from the Chesapeake Bay Program have been telling us for 25 years - that agriculture is a very leaky business that produces more bay pollutants than any other source.
Manure is a major part of this agricultural pollution - and so are the thousands of tons of chemical fertilizers dumped onto farm lands.
As Mr. Pelton's article suggests and the subsequent Sun editorial "No more free pass" (Oct. 18) notes, for too long, the poultry industry has wielded its political clout to escape responsibility for the "slow, steady poisoning of the Chesapeake Bay." Remarkably, this point applies to agricultural pollution of the bay in general, not just to chicken farming.
For instance, this year, increased corn acreage planted in the region to boost ethanol production led to about 3 million additional pounds of nitrogen pollution flowing into the bay. Corn production is extremely nitrogen-intensive. And more corn plantings are on the way with nearly no response so far from bay regulators to staunch this pollution that threatens to undo all progress in bay restoration.
Nothing is more cost-effective in bay cleanup than implementing best management practices on farmland. But states and the federal government have been reluctant to require such measures, and many environmentalists have joined the protectors of the agricultural industry in calling only for more money for current, voluntary programs.
These programs have moved us forward, but they will never staunch the flow of agricultural manure and chemicals.
We need mandatory, enforceable requirements on all farmland that require best management practices. And we need to enforce these requirements.
Without such measures, the bay cannot be restored and will continue to deteriorate.
Gerald W. Winegrad
Annapolis
The writer is a former state senator and former chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on the Environment.
Can Mideast rivals grasp other's pain?
Those of us who pray for peace between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East recognize that there are two controlling narratives about the creation of the state of Israel.
The Arab narrative denies the trauma suffered by the Jews in the Holocaust. The Zionist narrative denies the catastrophe that the granting of their land to the Jews was for the Palestinians.
Until each side acknowledges the suffering of the other, there will be no peace.
In her column "Winds of change in Holocaust Museum" (Opinion
Commentary, Oct. 16), Manar Fawakhry witnesses to the necessity of working with the suffering of the "enemy" at the Holocaust Museum.
She offers her work as an example of a new paradigm - one that aims to replace these warring narratives with an account that does not dismiss the story of the other, that acknowledges the pain and humiliation each story speaks of and blows a new wind through the stifling halls of the Middle East.
The letter responding to Ms. Fawakhry's column, "Arab intransigence caused 'catastrophe'" (Oct. 23) - which was a model of the Zionist tale - reminds us of how difficult the task of building a new paradigm is.
Susan Rose
Columbia
A broader approach to city's vacancies
As The Sun's editorial "Taking it to the bank" (Oct. 14) noted, abandoned properties undermine communities by harming their quality of life and accelerating disinvestment.
While the mayor's new proposals to streamline the city's property acquisition process will surely be a good step forward, there are other important aspects of the abandonment issue to consider.
A recent report by the Johns Hopkins University's Institute for Policy Studies found that abandonment is not nearly as simple an issue as many people might think.
While most people believe abandonment always coincides with high crime rates, low homeownership rates and the absence of parks and schools, the evidence reveals a more complex story.
For example, our study found that property values in the Berea area are not consistently lower in areas where abandoned houses are concentrated than in other parts of the neighborhood and that poverty in the Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello area is actually higher in some areas where vacant properties are rare than in other parts of the neighborhood.
The study did unearth a few fascinating issues the city could capitalize on.
For instance, Baltimore's varied housing stock seems to play a big role. The study found that in several city neighborhoods, areas with more abandoned buildings were also those with older, narrower and more-dilapidated rowhouses.
Conversely, areas with newer and wider rowhouses, often with porches or front yards, often had less abandonment.
The report also found that neighborhoods can develop "hot spots" in which abandonment completely takes over, regardless of the health of the surrounding community.
These areas are akin to cancers for a neighborhood and are likely to be too dilapidated for simple rehab to work.
City policymakers should remember that public investments may have a large or small effect, depending on how the money is spent.
If a few properties are tackled in haphazard fashion, taxpayer dollars will have little impact.
On the other hand, investment that relies on a comprehensive approach - one that recognizes both the importance of housing stock and the risk of "hot spots" spreading to other communities - could achieve great results.
Wesley Tharpe Jessica Ziegler Baltimore
The writers are master's students at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies. They were among the several dozen graduate students who conducted the IPS study on abandoned properties.
Are too many students suspended?
Bravo to the growing ranks of educators who are standing up against zero tolerance-based suspension and expulsion policies that are punitive and counterproductive.
Last month, Andres Alonso, Baltimore's new schools CEO, initiated a policy requiring principals to seek his permission before imposing suspensions of more than five days ("Alonso given wider power," Sept. 26).
And just last week, Peter Leone, a University of Maryland researcher, revealed disturbing statistics that demonstrate that the ever-increasing use of school suspensions is pushing more and more children away from school and toward delinquency ("Student suspensions, expulsions soar," Oct. 18).
Advocates for Children and Youth could not agree more with these leaders about the need for schools to embrace alternatives to suspension.
The goal of education is to keep children in school and engaged in learning. Removing a child from school should be a rare event, not commonplace.
But the numbers on school suspensions are alarming. Last year, there were 16,752 suspensions in Baltimore's public schools. In the 2005-2006 school year, there were 127,002 suspensions statewide.
To solve this problem, we need to rely on research-based practices that support good student behavior in schools.
Research has shown that schoolwide behavior management systems such as Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, when well-implemented, can reduce the number of suspensions and expulsions.
And teachers trained in effective classroom management tend to manage disruptions before behaviors escalate.
Additionally, students benefit from parental participation, mental health services, community involvement in schools and mentoring programs.
We must also acknowledge that inadequate school resources have a profound impact on student attendance and engagement.
Why do we accept educational environments that often expose children and adults to environmental hazards, poor building construction, deficient academic materials and an overall depressing climate?
We need to consider these deficiencies rather than mask the problems by overusing suspensions and expulsions.
We encourage superintendents across the state to heed Mr. Leone's warning and follow Mr. Alonso's hands-on approach in addressing the excessive rate of suspensions.
Angela Conyers Johnese Terrylynn M. Tyrell Baltimore
The writers are, respectively, the directors of juvenile justice and education for Advocates for Children and Youth.
I'm wondering how much Peter Leone was paid for the study reported in The Sun's article "Student suspensions, expulsions soar" (Oct. 18).
You mean to say that students who are thugs in school often also act like thugs outside of school? What a profound discovery.
I teach in a working-class high school in a blue-collar community, and I agree that it is tragic that so many kids are suspended or expelled from school.
But I have to say that when the "thug" factor is removed from my school in general, and my classroom in particular, the learning environment improves drastically.
As a teacher and a parent, I firmly believe that keeping kids in school, regardless of their race, who are disruptive, disrespectful and threatening to other kids and to faculty members just to keep the suspension and expulsion numbers down is a travesty.
By the time an in-school thug or "wannabe" thug is finally suspended or expelled, often after repeated warnings, phone calls to parents, detentions, in-school suspensions, etc., the child has often honed his or her habits of misbehavior for the world outside school.
Of course these youths often end up in the juvenile justice system. What else would you expect?
And their parents and the administrations of public middle and high schools have been their enablers.
R. C. Shriner
Arnold