MRSA Wound
Brown Recluse Spider Bite
Posted on 08/20/2006 12:52:40 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Bug bites are common in summer but a new super bug sweeping San Diego could have potentially fatal effects.
Local hospital emergency rooms are being jammed by patients who've been bitten by a strain of bacteria resistant to antibiotics.
Although the bites look they come from spiders, officials say they're much more harmful. Even worse: They're spreading so fast that the local emergency rooms are reporting at least one new infection per day.
The bacteria is called "metha-cillin resistant staph aureus'' -- or "MRSA" for short and while it looks harmless under a microscope, Scripps Mercy hospital epidemiologist Frank Myers III said it can potentially deadly.
"This particular strain is particularly nasty because it can make us sick it can cause skin infections and it's also resistant to many common antibiotics we use to treat it," Myers said.
According to Myers, the strain has been growing in strength in just the last few years.
"In 2002, we saw no cases of community associated MRSA. In 2006, we're now seeing over a case a day in our emergency room," Myers said.
MRSA is particularly fast growing but spreads even more rapidly -- and that's what worries Myers.
"We've seen family members have these boils be treated inappropriately, sharing towels or bars of soap and those can spread very effectively in household setting so instead of one case we now see an entire family," Myers said.
If left untreated, MRSA can disfigure and sometimes be fatal. The current strain in San Diego originated locally and is spreading throughout the community at a very high rate.
Although the strain is resistant to most antibiotics, Myers says some still do work but warns if you see a strange bite that doesn't seem to be healing to see a doctor right away.
"Ask [the doctor to] do a culture on it and then follow completely the guidelines for antibiotic use.
MRSA used to be spread a lot in locker rooms, especially among football players and wrestling teams. Now, Myers said babies are getting through a diaper rash and other family members are spreading it just by casual touch.
Probably based on seeing something like 8 or 9 cases during the past week.
It is nonetheless disturbing, but the numbers are confusing.
Thanks for posting. Very interesting.
I know they've carried bed bugs, lice and other parasites on their own parasitic bodies into North America.
How to Prevent MRSA poster... (too large to post the picture, so here is just the link)
http://www.tenafly.k12.nj.us/~jmaison/images/Prevent%20MRSA.jpg
Ick.....scary ping!!
I found this...
Superbug passed to people by pets
February 21, 2006
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/cnspolitics/story.html?id=426eb9b1-0a56-4334-b74b-0a678190b6b1
~SNIP~
MRSA, resistant to several types of antibiotic, already is a major problem within Canadian health care facilities, costing hospitals an estimated $100-million a year and killing 500 or more patients annually.
But it is likely to become a fixture in the community, too, imposing a significant new burden on the health care system, infectious disease experts say.
The new study, spearheaded by the University of Guelph's veterinary college, found that methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus will move repeatedly between humans and household animals.
~SNIP~
Michael Savage warned about the threat of anti-biotic resistant diseases brought in my immigrants, 15 years ago in a book, before he was on talk radio. It is just going to get worse...much worse.
Does this have anything to do with meth-drug users who have been coming up with staph infections from "spider bites" for a couple of years now?
Sounds like a job for propolis: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1472-765X.2003.01458.x?cookieSet=1&journalCode=lam
Additionally, propolis has been found to have synergistic boosting effects with antibiotic regimens: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=author:"Krol"%20intitle:"Synergistic%20effect%20of%20ethanolic%20extract%20of%20propolis%20and%20..."%20&hl=en&lr=&oi=scholarr
Last week? ..recently..the woman doc on CNN did a segment on this..there may be some info on their site.
Hydrogen peroxide or meat tenderizer are better. H2O2 WILL kill the bugs (better than alcohol), and the enzymes in the meat tenderizer will denature the toxic proteins of many insect venoms. Moiten a cotton ball with H2O2 and hold it on the affected spot for five minutes or so---repeat as needed.
I'll have a look. Thanks!
Corpus Christi,Texas, has had 750 cases so far this year, mostly affecting children, and some fatalities. CNN reported that this is up from 50 cases three years ago.
Really? More info please.
Mexico dumped its poor over the border -- ethnic cleansing. We deal with the result, and that includes measles, leprosy, whooping cough, the whole alphabet of hepatitis, etc.. And now this. (Education was something Mexico didn't think applied to the poor. Let them live in squalor, be illiterate all their miserable lives, so what. Better yet, dump them over the border as cheap labor with orders to send money home. If they're diseased, all the better. Here's a map of San Diego with a big X over the nearest hospital.)
That's what Mexico doesn't bother about. 'WASH YOUR HANDS and keep your fingers out of your mouth and eyes'. It's basic education. When that's lacking and large numbers of people live together-- who knows how many jammed in apartments -- opportunistic bugs like MRSA strike. (In Lowell, MA not long ago, police raided a small apartment house and found 900 illegals living there. You can bet some were using the same towel.)
Good information. Thank you for passing it along.
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