Posted on 01/21/2007 12:20:09 PM PST by kiriath_jearim
Can someone translate that into American?
Oh, horrors! Another piece of the sky is falling! First it was SARS. Then Bird Flu. Now this! Eeeeeeeeeek!
You've forgotten the keystone of it all, global warming.
It's nothing to laugh at. Hospitals are the most likely places for these superbugs to contaminate, which makes them useless should a pandemic break out.
Sooner or later, it's going to happen. I hope you are well prepared, because society will collapse overnight should something like that happen. A lot of people will be looking for YOUR food and supplies to survive.
Imagine the hordes of city people fleeing the city to escape contact with people who may have the plague and the smell of rotting corpses, expecting to find farms with vaste stores of food.
I'm sure "global warming" will be long forgotten if a deadly pandemic ever broke out. Besides, Global warming would be instantly corrected should half (or more)of the worlds population die off.
Thanks for posting. MRSA is interesting.
As a nurse MRSA is FRIGHTENING. If you need surgery try to make it outpatient if at all possible. The worst place to be is a hospital, and I work in one. I am appalled when I see infants allowed to crawl on the floor of hospital waiting rooms.
Read Daniel Dafoe's Journal of the Plague Year.
It's not something I'm expecting anytime soon ...
My own father contracted it while in the hospital and it was what ultimately led to his death. He had cancer and was hoping for a new treatment but that treatment had to be delayed due to the MRSA and the treatment he required for it (intravenous Vancomycin). He could not recieve more treatment for the cancer until the MRSA infection was "under control" but he never made it that far.
Vancomycin is an extremely powerful antibiotic that is extremely corrosive to the vascular system. He died as a result of his Jugular vein "opening up" (he bled out) which was most likely due to the long-term use of Vancomycin. (His doctor called the treatment with it a "double-edged sword" in that it could get rid of the MRSA which he needed to be able to recieve further cancer treatment but the treatment with Vancomycin could weaken his vascular system enough to kill him - mostly because of his already weakened and compromised bodily integrity).
What is even scarier about MRSA and these "super bug" Staph infections is their ability to mutate and become ever more resistant. There is now also VRSA - that is Vancomycin Resistant Staphlococcus Aureus. Nosocomial infections are one of the most serious probles facing healthcare facilities these days.
Condolences to you, your sis, your mom, your brother-in-law and the rest of your dad's family and friends.
Thanks for the work that you do and thanks for informing us about VRSA (certainly haven't heard about that one and I've been reading MRSA threads when I see them posted.).
Gorse is a type of broom. A wild shrub found on moors.
Does that help?
I didn't know about VRSA until I took my microbiology course this past fall semester! It's pretty rare compared to MRSA but it is out there.
My professor was fantastic and let me do a nasal swab and then culture it and test it for MRSA. Luckily the Staph Aureus I carry (which most people do) as "normal flora" was highly resistant to the Methicillin. :) I was relieved as I figured if anyone would have picked up the Methicillin-resistant strain from my Dad it would have been me as I was the one with the closest contact with him. It's nice to know that I'm starting my nursing clinicals without having to worry about being the person that passes on MRSA to my nursing home patients.
"Gorse is a type of broom. A wild shrub found on moors. "
Im sorry, the card says moops.
A major reason for rapid rise in the US health costs, is a growing shortage of hospitals.
The capital costs of building new healthcare facilities is extremely high. One of the many reasons for this is the need for advanced air-fitration to stop the spread of diseases like this one.
As it stands, areas and countries without hospitals with very strong infection control could find that their healthcare facilities are the number one vector for illnesses like this one.
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