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A superbug that first targeted vulnerable carriers such as prison inmates and intravenous drug users is now sweeping across Canada, sickening healthy adults and children in a number of Canadian provinces. Researchers at the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported the development Tuesday in a number of articles that were rushed to print in order to raise awareness. Forms of the drug-resistant bug known as community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus -- or CA-MRSA -- are causing skin and soft-tissue infections which are often difficult to treat, along with weeping wounds that don't heal. "People have flu-like symptoms, but often it won't present...

  EXCLUSIVE Cleaning boss hit by MRSA Crippled for life ... devastated ex-boss NormanPicture: PETER LOMAS     By ANDY RUSSELL A FORMER NHS cleaning supervisor has lost a leg — after catching the deadly MRSA superbug in his own hospital. Dad-of-two Norman Turner, 42, contracted the disease while recovering from a routine operation to replace an artery. Last night he slammed doctors, nurses and cleaning staff at Blackburn Royal Infirmary, Lancashire, for “appalling” standards of hygiene. Norman, who worked for 15 years at the hospital — where he helped to train staff to combat MRSA — said: “I was...

DAVOS, Switzerland - The world needs an effort similar to that behind the creation of the atomic bomb to tackle the multi-faceted threat of biowarfare, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Thursday. "We need to do something that even dwarfs the Manhattan project," Frist told the World Economic Forum in Davos. The Manhattan project was the codename for the United States's World War II effort to devise an atomic weapon. "The greatest existential threat we have in the world today is biological. Why? Because unlike any other threat it has the power of panic and paralysis to be global."...

Reuters A drug-resistant "superbug" found in hospitals has a close cousin that is affecting athletes, prisoners and small children in growing numbers across the United States, disease experts said yesterday. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA can become fatal if not treated with the right antibiotics, said Daniel B. Jernigan of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "MRSA is showing up in places it had never been seen before -- as a predominant cause of skin disease among children in some regions of the country, as clusters of abscesses among sports participants, as the most common cause of skin infections...

Drug-resistant germ spreading outside U.S. hospitals Thursday July 15, 1:46 AM By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A drug-resistant "superbug" found in hospitals has a close cousin that is affecting athletes, prisoners and small children in growing numbers across the United States, disease experts said on Wednesday. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA can become fatal if not treated with the right antibiotics, said Dr. Daniel Jernigan of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "MRSA is showing up in places it had never been seen before -- as a predominant cause of skin disease among...

KILLER RASH BREAKS OUTBy SAM SMITHMay 30, 2004 -- EXCLUSIVE A vicious skin infection resistant to all but the most powerful antibiotics has jumped out of New York City hospitals and onto the streets. The "superbug," as health officials refer to it, can cause anything from reddening of the skin, to abscesses, tissue loss, amputation or even death in severe cases, doctors said. For decades confined to hospitals, where it preyed on patients and built up immunity to antibiotics, the bug - known officially as Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus or MRSA - has also grown in strength. "Usually with infections...

Superbug 'carried by pets' Health officials say the hospital superbug MRSA is now being carried by pets in Britain. The deadly bacteria has been discovered in a dozen animals from across the country, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has confirmed. The development could make it harder to limit the spread of MRSA, which kills around 5,000 patients a year. However, vets urged owners not to ditch their pets following the discovery. It is carried harmlessly by one in three people but can prove fatal in babies, the elderly, those recovering from surgery or with a weakened immune system. The Observer...

Drug-resistant superbug now hitting the healthy Scientists have warned a drug-resistant superbug that has swept through US hospitals infecting patients is now hitting healthy people. MRSA normally enters the wounds of patients weakened by disease or injury, and is especially dangerous after surgery. But a new strain, which can be transmitted simply by skin contact and poses a risk to healthy people, has emerged. The development first occurred in the United States, where thousands of people have already been infected. The strain is said to have been spreading rapidly in crowded prisons, but there have also been numerous smaller outbreaks...

Antibiotic-resistant superbug causes deadly skin boils Reports of mystery infection prompts S.F. watch on gay men By Suzanne Bohan , STAFF WRITER A bacterial infection that overpowers most antibiotics has escaped the confines of hospitals and is showing up in alarming numbers among the general public in California, according to health officials. Scattered clusters of the infection have been reported throughout the nation. While no cases have yet been reported outside hospitals in Alameda County, a rise in the infections -- particularly among gay men -- in San Francisco prompted the city's public health department to launch a surveillance program...