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Drug-resistant staph striking the healthy
The News & Observer (NC) ^ | Sep 30, 2004 | LINDA A. JOHNSON

Posted on 09/30/2004 3:06:21 PM PDT by neverdem

The Associated Press

Flesh-eating bacteria cases, fatal pneumonia and life-threatening heart infections suddenly are popping up around the country, striking healthy people and stunning their doctors. The cause? Staph, a bacteria better known for causing skin boils easily treated with standard antibiotic pills.

No more, say infectious disease experts, who increasingly are seeing these "super bugs" -- strains of Staphylococcus aureus unfazed by the entire penicillin family and other first-line drugs.

Until a few years ago, these drug-resistant infections were unheard of except in hospital patients, prison inmates and the chronically ill. Now, resistant strains are infecting healthy children, athletes and others with no connection to a hospital.

"This is a new bug," said Dr. John Bartlett, who heads the committee on antibiotic resistance at the Infectious Diseases Society of America. "It's a different strain than in the hospital ... more dangerous than other staph.

"Primary care physicians and ER doctors, they don't all know [about this] and should," he said.

Bartlett, a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, treated three young Baltimore area women this year who got pneumonia from this community-acquired resistant staph. All had to be put on breathing machines, and one died, he said.

The infections will be a hot topic at the society's annual meeting this week in Boston. The society has been warning that drug companies are not developing enough new antibiotics to avert a crisis.

Among the case reports to be discussed:

* In Los Angeles, doctors at UCLA Medical Center treated 14 people with necrotizing fasciitis, informally known as "flesh-eating bacteria," over a 14-month stretch through April. Three needed reconstructive surgery; 10 spent time in intensive care.

"This is about as serious an infectious disease emergency as you can get," Dr. Loren G. Miller said. "We don't know how these people got the infection -- there doesn't seem to be a common thread."

* In Corpus Christi, Texas, doctors at Driscoll Children's Hospital saw fewer than 10 cases a year of community-acquired resistant staph infections in the 1990s, then saw 459 in 2003, with 90 percent in healthy children. A few developed life-threatening lung and heart infections or toxic shock syndrome.

* A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study shows another new twist: The resistant staph strain caused pneumonia in 17 people, killing five, during flu season last year.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: California; US: Georgia; US: North Carolina; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: drugresistantstaph; fluseason; health; healthcare; mrsa; staph
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To: tubebender

My big problem with that is you are making the rest room a big mess for the next person. All those paper towels all over the floor are disgusting. I am one of those people who takes the time to use another paper towel and pick up the ones you've dropped. Throwing the germs on the floor is not an answer, plus if you've ever had to clean a bathroom after a group of people have been in there, you would appreciate people not throwing paper towels on the floor. Maybe you should invest in long sleeves.


41 posted on 10/01/2004 3:00:28 AM PDT by Cate ( Bush is da' man)
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To: WomanBiologist; doberville
Unfortunately, most medical and nursing students can opt out of genetics... leaving them without the scientific knowledge of how these bacteria mutate and become resistant.

First, nurses don't prescribe medications (unless they are a nurse practitioner, and even then it is under the supervision of a physician). Second, upon my completion of RN school 15+ years ago, I distinctly remember being VERY well aware of drug-resistant germs (most nurses are compulsive when it comes to preventing nosocomial infections; it's ingrained into us at nursing school). 3. The reason people get antibiotics for colds is because it's much easier for the doc to write out the script, than it is for that doc to put up the brick wall, and field the daily phone calls from that patient until he/she receives their antibiotic. It's certainly not the right thing to do, it's just the easiest. I don't agree with it, given the increasing incidence of drug-resistant bugs, but that's the way it is in the real world.

42 posted on 10/01/2004 5:40:58 AM PDT by Born Conservative (20 years of votes can tell you much more about a man than 20 weeks of campaign rhetoric-Zell Miller)
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To: cherry
Interesting. I've never heard of anyone coming down with M.R.S.A. who had not been in a hospital.

I have a friend who almost died of M.R.S.A. earlier this year after a routine colonoscopy.

43 posted on 10/01/2004 6:47:02 AM PDT by snopercod ("I'm so proud to be a part of this great mass deception" --Frank Zappa)
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To: Cate
I have read that a majority of people using a public restroom don't wash their hands before leaving so if you are willing to take a chance it's your call. Most hospitals and restaurants are smart enough to place receptacles next to the door.
44 posted on 10/01/2004 6:56:49 AM PDT by tubebender (If I had known I would live this long I would have taken better care of myself...)
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To: tubebender; Mears
-----I have near a memorized speech that I give to groups of ignoramuses cursing the drug companies---pointing out that if you are eighty, the life expectancy when you were born was about fifty five so you are now on twenty-five years of borrowed time thanks to the miracle of modern chemistry--it leaves the group speechless but with something to think about---

--I'm 63, by the way---

45 posted on 10/01/2004 9:14:23 AM PDT by rellimpank
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To: rellimpank

It wasn't until after I sent my post that I realised you noted your post as sarcasm.

Wish I was 63 again---God,time goes by quickly,doesn't it?


46 posted on 10/01/2004 9:27:47 AM PDT by Mears
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To: Mears

---actually, this approach to middle age isn't as bad as I thought it would be at twenty----


47 posted on 10/01/2004 9:30:38 AM PDT by rellimpank
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To: rellimpank

Good attitude---LOL


48 posted on 10/01/2004 9:32:39 AM PDT by Mears
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To: rellimpank

Darlin',

Keep in mind, one day too, you will be old, and a geezer.

There is only one way to avoid it ;)


49 posted on 10/01/2004 9:35:08 AM PDT by najida (Sometimes I feel like a nut, sometimes I am.)
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To: najida

----yep---but I'm not going to sit around the senior center damning the drug companies for expecting payment for the stuff that's keeping me alive----


50 posted on 10/01/2004 1:51:33 PM PDT by rellimpank
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To: Born Conservative
I know you may not be aware of this, but the sports protective equipment (helmets and pads) are one of the most common places to find MRSA among many other forms of nasty bacteria such as Strep, Ecoli and many others. The athlete gets a cut or abrasion from the field or just playing and then the bacteria from the equipment gets into the body that way.

The only thing all these athletes come in contact with on a daily basis that is not being properly cleaned and sanitized is their protective gear!

We all know the antibiotics are not working to cure this very nasty infection, so we had all better start looking at new solutions for prevention!

Not everyone knows of the new solutions that are out there for this purpose, but make no mistake there are many in lots of states already!

Not to make this a commercial or anything, but check out volunteercleangear.com for information on a new way to clean and sanitize sports protective equipment. It is the only solution available that is proven to kill 99.99% of all bacteria living in the gear.

It is our responsibility to help prevent more kids from getting seriously ill.

Thanks
51 posted on 11/03/2004 8:07:01 PM PST by VolunteerCleanGear (How about prevention first!!)
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