Breast Implants ~ Full Of Germs: The Canadian Press - Montreal~ Dr P. Blias

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Subject: Breast Implants Found Full Of Germs: Source-Edmonton Journal -Nov. 1992-Canada The Canadian Press - Montreal

Ottawa chemist Pierre Blais and colleagues at Laval University in Quebec City say they have found large colonies of germs in surgically removed breast implants. We're finding huge amounts of infectious materials in both saline filled silicone- gel breast implants," Blais said in an interview.The implants were removed mostly from Canadian and American women who were experiencing infection, respiratory and immune-system problems and swelling and fever, Blais said. A couple of implants were so contaminated with fungi and other germs that they had turned coal black." Blais and his colleagues are using high- powered microscopes to examine the germs.But " in some cases, we could easily see signs of the infected material all without a microscope," he said.We're talking about grams of infected materials, not tiny amounts. It includes bacteria, exotic fungi, some of which grow like miniature mushrooms.Some of the saline implants have poorly designed valves that unfortunately can allow protein and plasma from the women to seep into the liquid. This may allow the germs to proliferate. And when some of these colonies get big enough, the germs could release toxins that could affect body tissue and nerves."The greatest danger to women with contaminated implants is that the infectious material could spread through the body if the implants leak or burst, he said."Once infection is in the body, the immune system would be forced to react and it could trigger an inflammatory process." So far the chemists have studied 20 sets of saline- filled implants and three sets of silicone- gel implants from various manufacturers. All the implants had some germs. The variety and high degree of contamination suggest that manufacturing problems may be at fault, particularly sterilization, Blais said. But, he said he had no proof that was the case. Nor is there any way of knowing how many of the several million sets of implants inserted in women in North America, mostly in the last seven years, have been contaminated by germs, he said.We've only recently started looking at infection in implants and so we don't know how widespread the problem is."Blais cautioned that women with implants shouldn't jump to conclusions on the basics of early study results because little is known about breast-implant contamination and the processes that might cause harm. He is to present evidence from the study of contaminated implants at a conference in Ohio, this weekend. A moratorium on silicone gel filled implants began in the United States and Canada last January after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found safety data on several products inadequate. The implants are now available to women in the United States who enrol in limited studies. Saline filled implants remain widely available in the U.S. and Canada.Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with Tyler Florence" on AOL Food.