Posted: 10/18/2007 4:40:16 AM EDT
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Sorry if this a dupe. It has hit close to home here in Balston Spa www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/16/AR2007101601392_pf.html Drug-Resistant Staph Germ's Toll Is Higher Than Thought By Rob Stein Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, October 17, 2007; A01 A dangerous germ that has been spreading around the country causes more life-threatening infections than public health authorities had thought and is killing more people in the United States each year than the AIDS virus, federal health officials reported yesterday. The microbe, a strain of a once innocuous staph bacterium that has become invulnerable to first-line antibiotics, is responsible for more than 94,000 serious infections and nearly 19,000 deaths each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculated. Although mounting evidence shows that the infection is becoming more common, the estimate published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association is the first national assessment of the toll from the insidious pathogen, officials said. "This is a significant public health problem. We should be very worried," said Scott K. Fridkin, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC. Other researchers noted that the estimate includes only the most serious infections caused by the germ, known as methicillin-resistant S taphylococcus au reus (MRSA). "It's really just the tip of the iceberg," said Elizabeth A. Bancroft, a medical epidemiologist at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health who wrote an editorial in JAMA accompanying the new studies. "It is astounding." MRSA is a strain of the ubiquitous bacterium that usually causes staph infections that are easily treated with common, or first-line, antibiotics in the penicillin family, such as methicillin and amoxicillin. Resistant strains of the organism, however, have been increasingly turning up in hospitals and in small outbreaks outside of heath-care settings, such as among athletes, prison inmates and children. On Monday, Ashton Bonds, 17, of Lynch Station, Va., succumbed to MRSA, prompting officials to shut down 21 Bedford County schools today for cleaning to prevent further infections. The infection had spread to Bonds's kidneys, liver, lungs and the muscle around his heart. The MRSA estimate is being published with a report that a strain of another bacterium, which causes ear infections in children, has become impervious to every approved antibiotic for youngsters. "Taken together, what these two papers show is that we're increasingly facing antibiotic-resistant forms of these very common organisms," Bancroft said. The reports underscore the need to develop new antibiotics and curb the unnecessary use of those already available, experts said. They should also alert doctors to be on the lookout for antibiotic-resistant infections so patients can be treated with the few remaining effective drugs before they develop serious complications, experts said. MRSA, which is spread by casual contact, rapidly turns minor abscesses and other skin infections into serious health problems, including painful, disfiguring "necrotizing" abscesses that eat away tissue. The infections can often still be treated by lancing and draining sores and quickly administering other antibiotics, such as bactrim. But in some cases the microbe gets into the lungs, causing unusually serious pneumonia, or spreads into bone, vital organs and the bloodstream, triggering life-threatening complications. Those patients must be hospitalized and given intensive care, including intravenous antibiotics such as vancomycin. In the new study, Fridkin and his colleagues analyzed data collected in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Oregon and Tennessee, identifying 5,287 cases of invasive MRSA infection and 988 deaths in 2005. The researchers calculated that MRSA was striking 31.8 out of every 100,000 Americans, which translates to 94,360 cases and 18,650 deaths nationwide. In comparison, complications from the AIDS virus killed about 12,500 Americans in 2005. "This indicates these life-threatening MRSA infections are much more common than we had thought," Fridkin said. In fact, the estimate makes MRSA much more common than flesh-eating strep infections, bacterial pneumonia and meningitis combined, Bancroft noted. "These are some of the most dreaded invasive bacterial diseases out there," she said. "This is clearly a very big deal." The infection is most common among African Americans and the elderly, but also commonly strikes very young children. "We see these cases all the time," said Robert S. Daum, a pediatric infectious-disease specialist at the University of Chicago. "In the last five weeks, I've taken care of five children who were sick enough to be hospitalized and require intensive care." Studies have shown that hospitals could do more to improve standard hygiene to reduce the spread of the infection. Individuals can reduce their risk through common-sense measures, such as frequent hand-washing. In the second paper, Michael E. Pichichero and Janet R. Casey of the University of Rochester in New York documented the emergence of an antibiotic-resistant strain of another bacterium known as Streptococcus pneumoniae, which causes common ear infections. Although all 11 children identified in the Rochester area with the microbe so far were successfully treated, five required an antibiotic approved only for adults, and one child was left with permanent hearing loss. The researchers attributed the emergence of the strain to a combination of the overuse of antibiotics and the introduction of a vaccine that protects against the infection. "The use of the vaccine created an ecological vacuum, and that combined with excessive use of antibiotics to create this new superbug," Pichichero said. |
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Your search-fu is weak.  ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=17&t=606282 |
I guess so 
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MRSA is by far no new "superbug". I remember doing a paper on it 15 years ago; and even then it was a known staff infection. The only thing that is bringing it to light these days is the media and yes, the obvious attemp at promoting fear. The more you are scared of something, the more likely you are to tune in. If you are practicing the same hygine advice that your mother gave you years ago, you don't have to panic about MRSA. Now if you want to learn about something really scary, find out about VRE (Vancomycin resistant Enterococcus)hock.gif |
I think you need to do another paper, as your info is out of date by say....15 years. There is flesh eating, blood infecting, the kind you get in hospitals, and the kind you get in a gym, and you can get it from a doorknob. |
Yeah, I'm looking at another MRI, then knee surgery. #1 question (for me) is the infection rate for the doc and staff. 
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NO one is talking about Necrotizing Faciitis. It is a bad mamma jamma, but the origional post is about MRSA. they are all different strains of Staph. I think it is you who should do some reading. By the way, since you bring up the subject of doorknobs, VRE can live on a DRY surface for up to a week, and not even Vanco can kill it. I have a sneaking suspicion that my research on the subject 15 years ago may be superior to your current knowledge on the subject......just a guess. |
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Combine this with the recent warnings to some congressional aides who were instructed to get immunized before going to Lowe's Motor Speedway & a Mexican national (illegal) infected with a highly contagious form of Tuberculosis crossing the U.S. border 76 times, the shtf meter is telling me there's a bad mojo out there we're not getting the complete story on. You'll never get the real deal from "The Man" until after fact due to panic control. The 20 million ilegals we turned a blind eye to are bringing diseases over that we eradicated decades ago. Best advice is to avoid large crowds and treat the slightest bug as something serious. GR |
And you'll only get the real scoop after they take care of themselves |
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Waldo0506 is 100% right. AIDS is a relatively hard virus to contract if you are not engaging in a couple of acts that expose you to an overwhelming number of infective organisms. The vagina containf fluid that can be infected, there is tissue that can be infected as well; and the rectum is extremely vascular. This, as well as the hemmoroids are very subject to micro abrasions. The media just uses the shock factor of the word to play on the fears we remember from the '80s and '90s. If it was 50 years ago, the scare word would be Polio. |
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if superbugs come out...chances are there is nothing you can do to really efficiently protect yourself. a small part of the population will probably survive (but we're talking a small fraction) just because they will be able to cope/adapt. Really if that happens you're waiting for a vaccine to come out. short of complete isolation in a fallout type shelter I don't see what you can really do to protect yourself. |
because those kill off the lesser germs, which in addition to being easily killed are also not much of a threat. this leaves the resistant ones with no competition for nutrients and living space it also makes your immune system get less practice and exposure to stuff which is how it builds resistance |
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If I may add to what Mike just said regarding the over use of antibiotics: As he said; you get a bacterial infection, use an antibiotic, once you feel better or your infection is resolving, you decide to stop your antibiotic and the micros that are resistant to the antibiotic multiply and proliferate, resulting in a super infection that requires an even stronger antibiotic. Antibiotics are also used on a prophylactic basis, which certainly aids in the opportunity for microorganisms to mutate and become resistant. Our "big gun" antibiotic in this situation used to be Methacillin. A strain of staph was then discovered to be Methacillin resistant; pretty ugly, but we had something even stronger than that, Vancomycin. In recent years though, Vancomycin was the drug of choice for those pt.s who were allergic to cillins for PROPHYLAXIS for pt.s with certain heart conditions prior to any invasive procedure. This was to protect against a condition known as SBE (Subacute Bacterial Endocarditis). What they failed to take into account was that the risk of contracting SBE from a minimally invasive procedure was about the same from contracting it from brushing your teeth. Now the good news is that the AHA has, within the past several months, changed their recommendations (Although please discuss this with your physician, as only he/she knows your individual health risks). |