Posted on 10/16/2007 4:26:32 PM PDT by neverdem
AP Medical Writer
More than 90,000 Americans get potentially deadly infections each year from a drug-resistant staph "superbug," the government reported Tuesday in its first overall estimate of invasive disease caused by the germ. Deaths tied to these infections may exceed those caused by AIDS, said one public health expert commenting on the new study. The report shows just how far one form of the staph germ has spread beyond its traditional hospital setting.
The overall incidence rate was about 32 invasive infections per 100,000 people. That's an "astounding" figure, said an editorial in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, which published the study.
Most drug-resistant staph cases are mild skin infections. But this study focused on invasive infections - those that enter the bloodstream or destroy flesh and can turn deadly.
Researchers found that only about one-quarter involved hospitalized patients. However, more than half were in the health care system - people who had recently had surgery or were on kidney dialysis, for example. Open wounds and exposure to medical equipment are major ways the bug spreads.
In recent years, the resistant germ has become more common in hospitals and it has been spreading through prisons, gyms and locker rooms, and in poor urban neighborhoods.
The new study offers the broadest look yet at the pervasiveness of the most severe infections caused by the bug, called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. These bacteria can be carried by healthy people, living on their skin or in their noses.
An invasive form of the disease is being blamed for the death Monday of a 17-year-old Virginia high school senior. Doctors said the germ had spread to his kidneys, liver, lungs and muscles around his heart.
The researchers' estimates are extrapolated from 2005 surveillance data from nine mostly urban regions considered representative of the country. There were 5,287 invasive infections reported that year in people living in those regions, which would translate to an estimated 94,360 cases nationally, the researchers said.
Most cases were life-threatening bloodstream infections. However, about 10 percent involved so-called flesh-eating disease, according to the study led by researchers at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There were 988 reported deaths among infected people in the study, for a rate of 6.3 per 100,000. That would translate to 18,650 deaths annually, although the researchers don't know if MRSA was the cause in all cases.
If these deaths all were related to staph infections, the total would exceed other better-known causes of death including AIDS - which killed an estimated 17,011 Americans in 2005 - said Dr. Elizabeth Bancroft of the Los Angeles County Health Department, the editorial author.
The results underscore the need for better prevention measures. That includes curbing the overuse of antibiotics and improving hand-washing and other hygiene procedures among hospital workers, said the CDC's Dr. Scott Fridkin, a study co-author.
Some hospitals have drastically cut infections by first isolating new patients until they are screened for MRSA.
The bacteria don't respond to penicillin-related antibiotics once commonly used to treat them, partly because of overuse. They can be treated with other drugs but health officials worry that their overuse could cause the germ to become resistant to those, too.
A survey earlier this year suggested that MRSA infections, including noninvasive mild forms, affect 46 out of every 1,000 U.S. hospital and nursing home patients - or as many as 5 percent. These patients are vulnerable because of open wounds and invasive medical equipment that can help the germ spread.
Dr. Buddy Creech, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, said the JAMA study emphasizes the broad scope of the drug-resistant staph "epidemic," and highlights the need for a vaccine, which he called "the holy grail of staphylococcal research."
The regions studied were: the Atlanta metropolitan area; Baltimore, Connecticut; Davidson County, Tenn.; the Denver metropolitan area; Monroe County, NY; the Portland, Ore. metropolitan area; Ramsey County, Minn.; and the San Francisco metropolitan area.
Thanks for dedicating your life to a meaningful pursuit. Your efforts will make the world a better place.
MRSA search hits at CDC site
Good for you for putting your heart and mind into such a noble profession. I’m sure good will come from it.
Indeed.
It’s also a great idea to switch to indoor footwear at the entrance of the house, keeping the germ-infested street-wear shoes away from things your hands are going to come in contact with.
When washing with soap sing “Happy Birthday” before rinsing. It takes that long to kill the germs—I heard somebody say.
Carolyn
Its also a great idea to switch to indoor footwear at the entrance of the house, keeping the germ-infested street-wear shoes away from things your hands are going to come in contact with.
LOL
I Started this years ago after my daughter got into the habit while living in Nova Scotia (her hubby was 'on loan' from the Navy as flight instructor to the RCAF) and in Canada it is custom, strictly observed, for everyone to take off shoes and boots when coming into anyones house.
So I made it a rule here - with a note in the door...and I wrote one of my columns about it, per:
Caution: No Boot Zone
Just inside my kitchen door, (the door we Mainers use as the main door if someone comes to the actual front door, we know its a stranger,) I have an antique piano stool with a sign that reads: Assez Vous! You have entered a no boot zone. Beside it is a shelf with slippers.
I dont know why its taken me so many years to put this into action. Its not only a custom in many countries but considered common courtesy.
We did it on the farm back in the 30-40s. Grammie Tuckers wood floors Birds Eye Maple were always scrubbed clean and no one better not not take off their wet, snow caked or muddy boots.
When my kids were little, it was a rule also. I dont remember when it ceased to be a habit. Maybe the years we lived in California where we werent confronted with snow.
But Ive been back home tMaine for a quarter century now and the automatic boots off ritual seems tove become almost obsolete. So I have been mopping up winter after winter until this year.
My kitchen floor is very light and very big, as it also encompasses my dining area. Keeping it clean and shining is quite a chore, especially since my back is no longer what it used to be. One day, when I was cleaning up after another sloppy day, it dawned on me that it took me close to 2 hours to sweep, vacuum, mop and wax the floor whereas it would take less than 2 minutes for someone to sit down and take off their boots.
Its them or me! I said to myself, digging a magic marker out of a drawer and making the sign. But I really had to steel myself to enforce it, almost as if I were the one being discourteous.
My daughter, with her 3 little girls and all their friends trooping in and out, made this no boots rule at their home when they were stationed at Brunswick Naval Air Daddys a P-3 pilot and everyone obeyed, big people as well as little. They are now stationed in Nova Scotia and she says she never had to say a word up there. She said its common practice with the Canadians. Indeed, they make a game of it when they entertain at one anothers homes, taking photos to see who has the biggest pile of boots.
I have friends in Denmark and its a common practice there. Of course, many wear the clogs even in winter, with wool socks, so its less cumbersome than taking off and putting on boots.
Cumbersome or not, I no longer have twinges of guilt as my company sit down and take off their boots. My floors stay clean and shiny for weeks with very little work.
Why in heavens name I didnt do this years ago is beyond me. Everyone has been super congenial about taking off their boots well, a couple have read the sign and then asked, as if it might not apply to them, Do you want me to take of my boots?
YES. Thank you.
(Now if I could just get the cat to wipe her feet.)
Now if I could just get the cat to wipe her feet.
As for the cat...
It's a disinfection mat inside the grey wrapping, placed in a waterproof tray near the door, and is usually soaked with water and a disinfectant(usually a natural one, for general use). A large piece of disinfectant-soaked packaging foam in a tray, can be a DIY solution to it, too. Cats usually avoid sidewalks, and don't usually make it to the nasty city streets.... trees and grass being their norm. So, this might be somewhat extreme ... ;^)
But I live in the country and her paws never touch concrete - or other man contaminated surfaces. The yard and woods do have some germs, but for the most part, the rains and sun washes them away or disinfects them.
Besides, I have a cat that would never, but never, set paw on that. She would hop over or never go out...or once out, never come in. (and I have the world's most skittish cat - she had a really hard life before coming here and so, even though she's all over my lap and keyboard and snuggles up close as she can at night...there's no way I could get a hold on her near the door, knowing what I intended to do.
,
Heh heh heh!
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