Posted on 02/27/2006 4:54:12 PM PST by summer
It all began with what looked like a spider bite on Eileen Moore's left thigh. ...Within 24 hours, the "bite" became a 6-inch welt with a bubble of pus that eventually ripened into a black wound. Over the next few months, scabs dotted her face. A hangnail caused her middle finger to bloat like a sausage. Her pierced ears oozed pus.
The cause of Moore's ordeal was a bacterium known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which in its most severe form can turn into a fatal flesh-destroying scourge.
For decades, the infections were found only in hospitals, where the constant use of different antibiotics, including the potent methicillin, made it resistant to many of the most powerful antibiotics.
In the last few years, it has emerged in gyms, jails, schools — and just about anywhere bacteria can grow. It has become a simmering problem that is largely unknown by the general population.
"I would characterize it as widespread, and in some areas it is epidemic," said Jeff Hageman, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a coauthor of two studies on staph published last year.
There are few statistics on the disease, because resistant staph infections are not routinely reported to the CDC. But one study published last year in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases estimated there were about 126,000 cases from 1999 to 2000 — twice the number of hepatitis B cases each year.
"The rapidity with which this has emerged over the last two to three years is probably unprecedented," said Donald Low, a microbiologist at the University of Toronto ...one of the key scientists who dealt with Toronto's SARS outbreak in 2003. "When you look at the numbers, this way outstrips other so-called new infectious diseases."...
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
If it's not one thing (bird flu, etc), it's another!
BTW, this is a very long 4-page article. Read if you are really in the mood for this kind of news!
MRSA is really bad stuff - we had 4 people get it last year at work - An intensive education campaign and strict enforcement of hygene rules stamped it out - after one employee took 4 extended trips to the hospital really scared the sh*t out of everybody else.
It hasn't been back.... yet.
Mine are down with some awful bug that's going around the schools. They've never had so many sick days. This one I'm getting scared about...
My buddies in infectious disease tell me I am neurotically paranoid of those little rascals.
In addition to the rampant over-use of oral antibiotics the recent explosion of "anti-bacterial" cleansers is NOT helping and may have something to do with all this.
Were All Gunna Die!!!
WE need to get back to first principles in medicine on infection control, the stuff pioneered by Lister. To start we need to get rid of a lot of the "hotel" crap in hospital wards, carpeting, drapes etc. Surfaces should be able to be cleaned and disinfected.
VERY scarey stuff!! It seems to me there is not enough reporting going on about this topic and related matters. I know of one person who got that flesh-eating disease. It's like we're all living in some sci-fi movie when people get that gosh awful disease!!
"confined to hospitals emerging in jails, gyms and schools"
Redundant
Hospital discharged my mother with MRSA infection in her stump and a severe watery diarrhea. They had wanted me to put her in long term care but I brought her home. She would have died in long term care because she was also not eating. That was in August. Her MRSA is gone thanks to alcohol and my care, her diarrhea took about two weeks to clear up and she is now gaining weight.
My FIL died of a MRSA infection after he had surgery for a broken hip.
The flesh eating bacteria from the ocean is different group but very lethal.
Here is the short version of what a Mass. fisherman went through:
"Racing against time to stay ahead of the rapidly spreading bacteria, doctors performed surgery four times on Holt over the next 24 hours, first removing his hand, then his arm, then portions of his back and side.
As his vital organs began shutting down in the following days, Holt was put on life support, but that was shut off on July 30, and Holt died 38 hours later.
Hospitals are good if you don't stay more than four or five days. After that time the possibility of problems not associated with the reason for you hospital stay increases daily.
I have the impression that it is the antiseptics and disinfectants that create an enviornment where no competing organisms allow these super bugs to develop and flourish. gyms, jails, schools — and just about anywhere bacteria can grow.
It has also been seen driving an SUV! One report even said the germ didnt use the turn signal! grrrr I hate that!
Yes it certainly is. I believe it is called Vibrio vulnificus. I may be wrong, worked in the aqua farm business and know that that is a bacteria they truly fear.
Dang, I think I may have had this a few years back. I always chalked it up to a spider bite (I was in Central America) but doing some searching on MSRA, this sounds like a more accurate description.
It started as what looked like a boil on my calf. Over the course of a week, the "head" turned black and fell out, leaving a hole about 1/2 inch wide and 1/2 inch deep in my leg. As the swelling subsided in my leg, the glands in my armpits swelled up to the size of lemons. The weird part was that nothing from beginning to end actually hurt.
Ya, I'm a bit slow to go to the doctor.
This stuff is spreading all over LA. An old friend of mine who took a different path than me in life and works in the Calif porn Industry is saying they are seeing a ton of it. In fact the porn industry rags were the first to report on how out of control this was getting all over LA County after their interaction with the doctors at emergency rooms
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