MRSA - A fairly typical American article.
- From: "Pat Gardiner" <patgardiner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2008 12:21:10 -0000
Pat's Note: Do you really think the British government can refuse to
investigate a possible source of MRSA in pig farms.
They are going to be forced to either test the pigs or admit the truth in
the end.
And it will be free speech America that drives the process rather than
secretive Britain.
That is bad for Britain, catastrophic for intensive livestock production and
the death knell for Defra and its corrupt vets.
Hanging it out will make things worse and British kids will die too.
If that does not move my Conservative readers, won't you even be enthused by
the chance of removing a Labour government?
If you sre not, British democracy is not working.
http://greatreporter.com/mambo/content/view/1620/1/
The superbug sparks concern, and calls for vigilance
Written by Manuel Cortazal
Sunday, 09 March 2008
The flesh-eating bacteria called the superbug is more common than once
thought, and the likelihood of getting it may depend on where you live.
A superbug may be loitering in your nose and you don't even know it's there.
Scientists say MRSA, a strain of flesh-eating bacteria known as the superbug
because it is resistant to common antibiotics, is more widespread than
previously thought, and the likelihood that you may have it could depend
upon where you live.
MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, was once found mainly
in hospital intensive care units. In recent years, varying strains of MRSA
have spread from the ICU to other hospital wards and to the general public.
Health advocates are calling for better information about the spread of the
bug and more available means to prevent infection.
MRSA resides harmlessly in the nose, but can colonize the body's surface
waiting for a cut to seize the opportunity to invade the underlying skin,
where it begins to destroy tissue. Experts say that hospitalized patients
with weakened immune systems are most at risk. But healthy people can be at
risk, too.
A study published in a recent issue of the American Journal of Infection
Control (AJIC) concluded that the states with the highest rates of MRSA are
east and northeast of the Mississippi River. They include South Carolina,
Delaware, New York and New Hampshire and Maine.
Other states along the Atlantic coast--Massachusetts, Florida and
Pennsylvania--ranked high, as did two Western states, California and
Nebraska.
"Our study showed great variation in the geography of prevalence," said Dr.
William Jarvis, who designed the study and coauthored the article that
appeared in AJIC. "We think it's because of population density in big cities
and the cluster of large academic hospitals that treat the sickest
patients."
The study, sponsored by the Association for Professionals in Infection
Control, was based on a one-day snapshot of the number of infected patients
at reporting hospitals.
What's more, Jarvis said, only 29 percent of hospitals were screening for
the bug. "There needs to be improvement on this front," he said.
Before the findings were released, researchers and clinicians relied on
prevalence data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which
showed a national infection rate of 3.95 per 1,000 inpatients. But Jarvis
and his colleagues at APIC estimate a national rate of 46.3 per 1,000
patients.
The infection can take on the appearance of a spider bite or small boil,
which many people often ignore at first. Christie Griffith, a 29-year-old
single parent in Southbridge, Mass., didn't realize those small boils on her
skin that she noticed while living in Sacramento, Calif., would lead to a
widespread infection.
"At first the doctors never made the connection to MRSA," she said. "I never
heard of this disease before and wonder why there isn't a public information
campaign like AIDS."
Last October, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a
report by epidemiologists at the CDC that estimated 31.8 per 100,000 U.S.
residents developed MRSA infections in 2005. The CDC report confirmed what
Jarvis discovered: the medical community was relying on estimates that
underreported the extent of the problem.
Patient safety advocates are pushing hospitals to screen all new patients
for MRSA. Some of the more vocal advocates of screening, with the support of
state legislatures, also want hospitals to publicly report their infection
rates.
When MRSA infects an everyday wound, not only is the patient affected, the
entire family is as well. Helen Gilson and her family came up against the
superbug three years ago when her 10-year-old son cut his leg as a horse he
was riding brushed up against a fence.
"After the doctor stitched him up, he did well, but soon he stopped
healing," said Gilson, a housewife in Mason, Ohio, a state that ranked near
the middle in the Jarvis study.
Within weeks, the antibiotic-resistant bug spread throughout the wound,
damaging the skin and stumping doctors.
Gilson found a pediatrician who correctly diagnosed the problem and started
her son on a regimen of antibiotics that specifically targets the bug.
The Gilson family's battle with MRSA didn't stop at the hospital. Even
though her son bounced back, the bacteria continued to live on his body. So
the mother of two had to worry about other members of her family becoming
infected. She replaced hand cloths with paper towels and disinfected the
children's shower with a bleach solution to prevent her other son from
becoming infected.
The Gilson and Griffith families are now doing well. Others aren't so lucky.
The CDC analysis published in October estimated that MRSA killed 19,000
Americans in 2005, more than the number of people who died of AIDS.
Betsy McCaughey, a prominent advocate for patient rights, said many more
people are dying than hospitals report. She founded RID, the Committee to
Reduce Infection Deaths, a group that champions better infection control
among health care workers and more public reporting of hospital infection
rates.
"There are productive steps that hospitals can take but just don't adopt,"
McCaughey said. She argues that hospitals should screen all incoming
patients for MRSA so health care workers can isolate infected patients from
the general population. Her group's Web site advises patients awaiting
surgery to bathe with chlorhexidine soap for several days before entering
the hospital.
The CDC and hospitals are stepping up efforts to counter the bug's spread
with new research and more stringent infection control procedures. Janet
Haas, associate director of infection control at New York University
Hospital, said hospitals are using rapid testing to identify and isolate
infected patients more quickly. She added that NYU is now monitoring health
care workers' compliance with infection-control measures.
After the recent MRSA-related deaths of schoolchildren in two high
prevalence states, New Hampshire and New York, received national press
coverage, parents started paying attention to the threat of MRSA in schools,
McCaughey said.
"We also want to empower parents," she said. A former lieutenant governor of
New York, McCaughey advises parents to pack alcohol-based hand sanitizers in
their kids' book bags and to pressure schools to encourage good hand hygiene
practices and disinfect gym equipment. Experts say that frequent hand
washing, not sharing towels, and cleaning gym mats and equipment are the
best ways to prevent infection outside the hospital.
Now that her son has fully recovered, Gilson helps parents across the nation
who grapple with MRSA infections. She has a blog on her Web site and offers
advice to parents who post messages to an online MRSA support group.
"I've heard horror stories from so many parents whose doctors who wouldn't
take the extra step and test for MRSA," Gilson said. "After what my family
experienced, I knew I had to do something for others."
--
Regards
Pat Gardiner
www.go-self-sufficient.com
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