There is a new danger living in our community—MRSA, the “superbug” that has taken the world by storm. It is an extremely vulnerable bacteria; the acronym stands for methicillin-resistant staph aureus. It is significant because it does not respond to most antibiotics. Get a positive culture for it in the hospital and watch how quickly you are put on “contact isolation” which includes every hospital personnel donning gowns, gloves, and sometimes even a mask to protect themselves (and other patients) from the spread. According to this article: http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2007082400&type=query&num=mrsa&
Most hospitals are not required to publish infection reports (FLA does), but shouldn’t they have to? As advocates for community safety, I think they should, and it’s a little strange that they are not required to do so as this is such a prevalent infection that kills even healthy people! The article reads that over 3% of hospitalized persons have MRSA. Also, they say “most experts agree the government should spend more on disease-surveillance and anti-resistance efforts” and “Ideally, Congress should establish an antibiotic-resistance coordinator who reports directly to the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). A direct line to the Cabinet is vital, he says, because other departments — including Defense, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture — also have roles to play.” How can we prevent the spread of this new enemy? Wash your hands after using the bathroom.
4 comments:
I have been hearing about MRSA for awhile now, I personally don't think it's that bad. My paraplegic sister has it, she lives with my mother and I, and we have yet to be infected(Knock on wood). Maybe we are just lucky or maybe the media is blowing this out of proportion.
harris_zac: well, in reality, we ALL have MRSA of some degree in our bodies but are not necessarily infected with it. What is significant about this bug is that it is so virulent and that there is no "cure" for it; no antibiotic can destroy it. Hopefully you will not get it but the best precaution you can take is keeping all wounds covered, as sterile as possible and, as I wrote in the first entry, washing hands.
nickpagel: No we don't all have it. Go back and do your research again. There are those who are carriers and those who are infected. That is not 100% of the population. It is like saying we all have blindness or are carriers of it. That is just false. Though I believe about 30% of the entire population is believed to be carriers which is a large amount especially after you add the infected. Staphylococcus Aerus is a bacteria that usually looks like a spider bite or a boil and sometimes excretes a white or yellowish substance. It usually deteriorates its entire surroundings, it is a living thing and doesn't need air to survive. I believe it thrives on mucous tissue. So this is just my theory, but cutting back on products that contain lactose may be a good idea.
>danielathompson: No we don't all have it. Go back and do your research again. There are those who are carriers and those who are infected.
ok, here's the thing, staph aureus is a type of bacterium, meth-resistant staph aureus is a type of strain. I never said that we all have a MRSA infection, just that we have it in some degree, as staph aureus exists as our natural flora. The article reads, "Healthy individuals carry a MRSA asymptomatically for periods ranging from a few weeks to many years. Patients with compromised immune systems are at a significantly greater risk of symptomatic secondary infection." You don't have to be infected to have this bacteria in your body. I also found in another source: S. aureus normally occurs as a commensal on human skin (particularly the scalp, armpits, penis and vagina); it also occurs in the nose (in about 25% of the population) and throat and less commonly, may be found in the colon and in urine. The finding of Staph. aureus under these circumstances does not always indicate infection and therefore does not always require treatment (indeed, treatment may be ineffective and re-colonisation may occur). So there’s your research, hope that cleared it up. Keep washing those hands!
>It is like saying we all have blindness or are carriers of it. That is just false.
Oh, yes that is false. This is pure foolishness and faulty understanding of genetics, which wasn’t even a part of the conversation. You are talking about an inherited retinal dystrophy or something like that I think. It is not possible to transmit blindness from one person to another. Umm, go do some research.
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