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Staph infections and MRSA

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CA-MRSA: An Epidemic

"On Wednesday, Drew woke up with a stuffy nose, a cough and a mild fever. He stayed home from school. In the afternoon, while Bonnie was picking up her son's homework, her cell phone rang. "Mom, I can't breathe," Drew gasped. "Dad's taking me to the doctor. ... But why was Drew so sick? Tests, including cultures of his phlegm, revealed that he had pneumonia triggered by a sometimes fatal bacterial infection known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). "I thought only sick people in the hospital got that," says Bonnie. For decades, that was true: MRSA was dubbed a superbug because many common antibiotics couldn't eradicate it. The bug prowled medical centers and nursing homes, typically targeting elderly, debilitated and chronically ill patients. Now an even more dangerous form of staph infection, known as community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA), is striking otherwise healthy people who haven't been in a hospital, with an unusual number of outbreaks among athletes on sports teams. And kids are at particular risk, although no one is sure why. ... " Source: Readers Digest

"Over the past three to four years, CA-MRSA has become an epidemic that's sweeping the country," says Robert Daum, MD, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital ... " Source: Readers Digest

"CA-MRSA is here, second only to HIV as a public health threat." Source: Readers Digest

"Superbugs can be transmitted by a hug or a handshake, on a playground or in a locker room. And can kill within 72 hours." Source: Readers Digest

"MRSA is so widespread that 2.3 million Americans carry the bacteria in their noses without symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2006. CA-MRSA carriers can infect others, or suddenly become ill themselves if the bacteria burrow past the body's defenses. Any break in the skin's protective barrier -- a razor nick, a scratch, even nose picking (which may injure nasal passages) -- can set the stage for a staph infection." Source: Readers Digest

"Labeled a lethal menace in 1999, after four children in North Dakota and Minnesota died of it, the superbug is now responsible for 59 percent of skin and soft-tissue infections seen in emergency rooms, researchers reported last year. "This is an astonishingly high case rate," says Henry Chambers, MD, chief of infectious diseases at San Francisco General Hospital." Source: Readers Digest

The excerpts quoted above are from an article in the August 2007 issue of Readers Digest. The full-text article is available at http://www.rd.com/content/methicillin-resistant-staphylococcus-aureus/1/

If Pensylvania is passing legislation to require testing for MRSA, can other states be far behind?

New legislation in Pensylvania: Hospitals will be required to test for resistant bacteria in the highest-risk patients as well as all those admitted from nursing homes, a major source of infections. Staffers in contact with contagious people also must be tested.

19,154 patients contracted infections in 2005 during care in hospitals throughout Pennsylvania.

Staphylococcus aureus is a common bacterium that often lives harmlessly on the skin or in the nose. When it gets into the body - usually through a cut or surgical incision - it can cause an infection. The result ranges from minor skin lesions to life-threatening bloodstream infections, pneumonia, or organ damage.

Pensylvania aims at staph infections

By Josh Goldstein, Philidelphia Inquirer, Posted on Fri, Jul. 20, 2007

Melissa Morris is exactly the kind of frontline medical worker Gov. Rendell needs for his ambitious initiative to improve the public's health.

Morris is passionate about preventing infections. For nearly a year, the nurse manager has helped spearhead an effort inside Albert Einstein Medical Center in North Philadelphia to reduce the outbreak of infections that are resistant to antibiotics.

Hospital-acquired infections - a hot topic and one that Pennsylvania hospitals are tackling with zeal - come in various forms. The target in Morris' crosshairs is a drug-resistant germ that often accompanies patients from home to the hospital, where it infects other patients and then travels with them back into the community to do more damage.

It is a vicious cycle - and one that Rendell, in signing a new law today, says he is aiming to break, or at least slow down.

Under the new legislation, hospitals will be required to test for resistant bacteria in the highest-risk patients as well as all those admitted from nursing homes, a major source of infections. Staffers in contact with contagious people also must be tested.

Rendell knows, however, that the success of his plan depends less on government mandates than on the active engagement of health-care workers such as Morris.

He was "blown away," he said, by the culture of safety he witnessed while visiting the Veterans Affairs health-care system in Pittsburgh, which has garnered national recognition for its program to fight what is known as MRSA.

"Everyone had bought into it, from the doctors to the janitors," the governor said in an interview. "I want that same type of enthusiasm about preventing hospital-acquired infections in every hospital in Pennsylvania."

The new law pushes hospitals to meet benchmarks. It rewards - with higher reimbursements - those that improve.

PHC4 - the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council - began collecting reports on hospital-acquired infections in 2004. It issued the nation's first hospital-by-hospital report on infection rates in November.

That study found 19,154 patients contracted infections in 2005 during care in hospitals throughout Pennsylvania.

Article full text at: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/health_science/daily/8618937.html

For more information on how to kill the Staph and MRSA bacterial on your skin now, CLICK HERE

MRSA Superbug shuts hospital ward for the second time this year.

If this is happening internationally, how often is this happening in USA hospitals and not being reported?

Ward 24 was shut, and 11 patients had elective surgery cancelled after Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were discovered in orthopaedic patients.

MidCentral Health spokeswoman Claire McMahon said outbreaks of the bug were frequent. "It's a really common occurrence in hospitals. It's always popping up.

MidCentral group manager acute surgical services Brett Sheehan said, "The safest measure we can take is to close the ward, completely clean it and screen and treat our staff and patients."

Superbug shuts hospital ward

By KATIE CHAPMAN - Manawatu Standard |

Tuesday, 24 July 2007

A superbug has broken out in the Palmerston North Hospital for the second time this year.

Ward 24 was shut, and 11 patients had elective surgery cancelled after two cases of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were discovered in orthopaedic patients.

There were 19 patients in the ward when it was closed to new admissions at 3pm yesterday.

MidCentral Health spokeswoman Claire McMahon said outbreaks of the bug were frequent.

"It's a really common occurrence in hospitals. It's always popping up."

The previous outbreak at Palmerston North Hospital was in January.

MRSA is a bacterium that is transmitted by skin-to-skin contact and can live for a long time. Healthy people can be carriers without being ill. Treatments include ointment, a disinfectant body wash and antibiotics.

MidCentral group manager acute surgical services Brett Sheehan said ward closure and subsequent postponing of some elective services was necessary. "We won't take any risks when it comes to our patients. The infection control team is doing all they can to manage the situation.

"The safest measure we can take is to close the ward, completely clean it and screen and treat our staff and patients."

Full text of article: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4139033a6502.html