Posted on 08/24/2006 12:31:16 AM PDT by neverdem
In April 2005, Sara Stephan, a 13-year old in Charleroi, Pa., developed what looked like a pimple on her cheek.
A blemish on a teenager is not exactly cause for alarm, but her mother, Carla Stephan, became concerned when it started to spread and swell. “Her whole cheek got big and red,” she said.
Next, a similar lesion above Sara’s eye. Then, she got one the size of a softball on her buttock, and several more on her thighs.
Tests showed that Sara had a particularly persistent and sometimes deadly bacterial infection known as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, often abbreviated as M.R.S.A.
Intravenous antibiotics seemed to eradicate it, but Sara has had recurrences, requiring three additional hospitalizations.
“It’s been horrible,” Ms. Stephan said. “How would you feel being her age having to deal with this?”
Health care providers have been concerned about an increasing number of such cases for years. But they are now reporting infections in unexpected locales and among a bewilderingly diverse population.
M.R.S.A. is also demonstrating an alarming virulence and protean nature, making it more difficult to contain and treat. Doctors say that because it is not clear who is vulnerable — even people who are in good health and practice good hygiene have been infected — everyone should take steps to reduce his or her risk.
Although the bacterium has lurked in hospitals for decades, outbreaks elsewhere were virtually unheard of until the 1990’s. Even then, the incidence was small, and the infection was confined mostly to people with weak immune systems: young children, the elderly and people with H.I.V. It occurred mostly in large metropolitan areas.
But in the last five years, the number of cases has drastically increased. “It’s infecting normal, healthy people everywhere,” said Loren G. Miller, a principal investigator at the Los Angeles...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
But will you ever again be able to get throught the metal detector at the airport? (:^*)
humans will evolve to beat this just as the bacteria evolved to beat antibiotics.
..even a man who is pure of heart, and says his prayers at night...
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