Protecting Yourself From Nasty Superbugs: Suggestions From Mayo Clinic

Science Daily ^ | 6-23-2008 | Mayo Clinic, via Newswise.

[blam]

Protecting Yourself From Nasty Superbugs: Suggestions From Mayo Clinic

ScienceDaily (June 23, 2008) — Superbugs -- bacteria that are resistant to many commonly used antibiotics -- can seem scary. Antibiotic resistance means illnesses last longer, and the risk of complications and death increases.

Many factors have contributed to the emergence of superbugs, including overuse and misuse of antibiotics. One superbug, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), has been a problem in health care settings for years. In this environment, the bacteria is spread from one patient to another via the hands of care providers or by contaminated equipment.

Increasingly, MRSA is appearing outside of hospitals and is a growing threat. It can cause serious skin and soft tissue infections and a form of pneumonia. Clusters of MRSA skin infections have surfaced in certain groups of people, including athletes, children and members of the military. Risk factors in these groups include close contact, shared equipment that isn’t cleaned, cuts on the skin, crowded living conditions, contaminated clothes or towels, and poor hygiene.

The June issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource offers tips to avoid superbugs:

[Wonder Warthog]

* Wash your hands: This simple procedure, done properly, remains the best defense. Carry alcohol-based hand sanitizers for times when hand washing isn’t possible.

* Keep personal items personal: Don’t share towels, soap, sheets, razors, clothing or athletic equipment.

* Sanitize linens: If you have a cut or abrasion, wash towels and sheets with hot water and added bleach. Wash gym and athletic clothes after each use.

* Get infections tested: If an infection requires treatment, ask the care provider to take a culture to confirm what bacteria are present before you are given an antibiotic. If you test positive for a staphylococcus (staph) infection, ask that a culture be tested specifically for MRSA in case you need a special antibiotic.

* Use antibiotics appropriately: When you take antibiotics, take all doses even when you start feeling better. Don’t demand antibiotics for viral illnesses; antibiotics don’t work with viruses. Taking too many antibiotics over time could become a detriment because the medication’s effectiveness can be compromised by overuse.

* Use antibacterial products sparingly: Antibacterial soaps and cleaning products probably don’t prevent infections at home and may make these products less effective in hospitals.

* Take precautions in the hospital: Ask all hospital staff and visitors to wash their hands or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer before touching you. Ask care providers to wipe stethoscopes and other equipment with alcohol. Don’t set food or utensils directly on tables or beds. Make sure that intravenous tubes and catheters are inserted under sterile conditions.

[Gay State Conservative]

I’m going to have major (well,fairly major) surgery in a couple of days.I must admit that I’m concerned about this superbug.

[blackdog]

Wash the incision area twice a day for a week before surgery, using betadine surgical scrub. I've had over 15 surgeries. Every one with pre-scrubbing resulted in no infection. The emergency ones alway's resulted in post surgical infection. FWIW they give you massive doses of antibiotics post surgery, intramuscular. My infections showed up 3~5 days post op. That's why it's a good idea to not let them out-patient you for any surgical procedure.

Best of luck.

[Gay State Conservative]

Wash the incision area twice a day for a week before surgery, using betadine surgical scrub.

They gave me a number of packets of Hibicleanse and told me to shower with it the evening before and the morning of the surgery.The surgery is being done at a major Boston hospital and I guess that counts for something.

Best of luck.

Many thanks.

[hinckley buzzard]

I would follow blackdog's advice. The quality of the hospital's reputation is no guarantee against MRSA. I have lost count of how many professional athletes have had career-ending or -jeopardizing infections after surgery at Cleveland Clinic, which is as good as they come. This stuff colonizes and is virtually impossible to eradicate in an open hospital-type environment.

[FORTRUTHONLY]

Find out if your state/county mandated local hospitals for MRSA reporting. If they do, you can easily find out if your hospital is a high risk or not.

[usmcobra]

I have MRSA, and I might have died from it if I had not sought medical help.

It’s all healed now and since I have no infected areas right now, there is very little chance of me passing it to someone else.

However my life is permanently changed. I can do nothing that will cut, scrap, burn, puncture, or wound me in the least, lest I get infected again. I used to be a classic car restorer and builder, now I have a job where all my years of experience allow me to just answer questions in an environment where I cannot get hurt.

Dealing the life style changes are the worst, but it could have been different, had I waited a week longer before I got help I might have lost my right leg from above the knee, or even my life like that woman in Texas that caught MRSA in Jail while spending time there for parking tickets and was refused medication.

MRSA kills 37 out of 100 Americans that get infected with it. If I break out again I have a one and three chance of dying.

By the way 93 million Americans have the bug that causes MRSA, that doesn’t mean you are infected with it, it means you can infect someone else or yourself with it, if you are not careful.

I have to live careful from here on out.

[Gay State Conservative]

I would follow blackdog's advice.

Too late,unfortunately.The surgery's Wednesday.

The quality of the hospital's reputation is no guarantee against MRSA.

I know from personal experience that a hospital's reputation is no guarantee in any regard.I worked for one of the big Boston hospitals for 20 years and could tell you stories (but I'll spare you).

[blam]

"I have to live careful from here on out."

That's terrible. Be careful and good luck.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Info on experimental drug for MRSA, squalene synthase.

http://www.physorg.com/news122219456.html

“Researchers at the University of Illinois helped lead a collaborative effort to uncover a completely new treatment strategy for serious Staphylococcus aureus (“Staph”) infections. The research, published Feb. 14 in Science Express comes at a time when strains of antibiotic-resistant Staph (known as MRSA, for methicillin-resistant S. aureus) are spreading in epidemic proportions in hospital and community settings.”

[oprahstheantichrist]

"Too late,unfortunately.The surgery's Wednesday."

Find a late night Walgreens and start tonight. You've got nothing to lose, except the twelve bucks for the betadine.

[cherry]

let's stop right there......visitors come and go into pts rooms, use their bathrooms, eat their food, use their cups, cough on them, lie in bed with them, lie in the clean bed next to them, bring sneezing little kids in, and somehow, germs are NOT going to be passed along?.....

hate to tell you all but if a lot of people just got tested randomly all sorts of germs would be found on their skin and in their noses....

we have overly used antibiotics in this country and others from birth on and we wonder why we have resistant organisms....then we have a whole group of people that do not take the full required prescription of an antibiotic, because they are feeling "better...and there are those who "lend" some antibiotic pills to a friend because that friend is sick and a couple of antibiotic pills will "help"...

if there are superbugs growing , I think the general populace along with the health establishment can share equal responsibility.....

of course I am old school.....

[cherry]

I remember the days of the Phisohex scrubs before surgery....

[SunkenCiv]

I love the deli there.