Posted on 06/28/2006 7:42:18 PM PDT by fanfan
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 itself as fevers, chills or aches," Dr. Neil Rau, an infectious diseases expert, told CTV Newsnet Wednesday. "It will show up as a small skin problem that people will usually refer to as a 'spider bite.'"
He added the 'spider bite' can then become a larger abscess or boil, although "in many cases the boil will just drain, the person won't seek medical attention and it will be of no consequence." In rare cases, the bacteria can invade the blood stream and lead to serious health risks.
In the most startling development, strains labelled USA300 and USA400 have led to severe illness and even death in carriers who were healthy before they caught the bug.
"It's sweeping across the nation, no doubt about it," Dr. John Conly, senior author of one of the papers and an expert on CA-MRSA told The Canadian Press.
"I think this is a pan-Canadian problem."
The bug, and other antibiotic resistant infections caused by strains of Staph aureus, have in the past spread in hospitals where heavy drug use has created an environment where drug-resistant bacteria can flourish.
According to the CMAJ article, the Calgary Health Region said those at highest risk had histories of illicit drug use, homelessness or recent incarceration.
In the U.S., the MSA300 strain has been associated with multiple outbreaks involving prison inmates, men who have sex with men, military recruits and, most recently, professional athletes.
The bug is believed to spread more readily in environments that include skin-to-skin contact, poor hygiene and crowding.
But in recent years the emergence of MRSA strains have been reported in Australia, the U.S. and Europe outside of hospital settings.
Incidents are most common in the U.S., where the so-called superbug has been showing up in day-care centres and on sports teams -- infecting hundreds of thousands of people.
Conly says the infection wave has crossed the border into Canada, and Calgary has already reported more than 300 cases of CA-MRSA, that resulted in several deaths.
"So this is really quite a serious issue and I think it's an important one from a standpoint of Canadian physicians to realize that this is not actually something south of the border but has swept up from the southwestern United States and is now sweeping across Canada," Conly told CP.
Increased numbers of cases have been reported in communities in B.C., Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Toronto is also experiencing an upswing in numbers, up from one or two per year in 2001, to as many as 15 cases last year just at Mount Sinai Hospital.
While some of those cases were in at-risk individuals, a number of them occurred in patients who showed no sign of being at risk.
This is worrisome to experts, who are now urging Canadian physicians to work together to tackle the problem before it becomes worse, and to pay close attention to patients with skin and soft-tissue infections who may be suffering from CA-MRSA.
With files from The Canadian Press
Sounds like it was. I'm glad he got over it. A few years ago I think I was bitten by a black widow. The skin on my arm was red and I got a really hi fever. Being a typical male, I did nothing for it. Well, maybe some aspirin. Anyway, it went away.
Is this superbug resistant to ionic silver?
Talked to some medical types a while ago, it is not resistant and probably never will be. Iodine is another chemical that can disinfect the stuff.
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