'Superbug' bacteria deaths exceed those from AIDS

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Chicago Tribune

Nearly 19,000 Americans die each year of invasive infections caused by drug-resistant staphylococcus bacteria—a larger number than deaths caused by AIDS, according to a major new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The report, written by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the latest piece of research to note the alarming spread of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus in communities across the U.S. and to document the bacteria's deadly impact.

MRSA is a superbug that does not respond to treatment by common antibiotics such as penicillin. The bacteria can live on common surfaces such as tables or doorknobs for days or weeks and can be transmitted when someone touches an infected surface.

More than 94,000 Americans get life-threatening MRSA infections annually, most of which appear to be traceable back to hospitals, nursing homes or medical clinics, the new CDC report found.



Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-web_mrsaoct17,0,7711720.story?coll=chi_tab01_layout

[Trillo]

1. Have there been any further studies on bisphosphonates

They were reported a while back to help with the antibiotic resistance issue.

[lovuian]

2. its bad and effects children to adults to aged

it is bad

[libodem]

3. I saw a lot of it

because I worked in a nursing home. Time after time patients come down with pneumonia and are treated time after time with antibiotics. When one antibiotic fails they go to the next strongest one. Same with indwelling catheters. Bladder infection after bladder infection, antibiotics are given in stronger and stronger dosages and more potent drugs. The human being involved may be human and loved by family but they are a live trap of bacteria. A little urine falls on the floor when the bag is emptied. The next person steps on that spot, and tracks the bug home to the living room carpet. The six month old baby crawls around on the floor at home. The baby sucks on her fists. The baby contracts a bacterium that can't be killed with IV Vancomycin. But grandpa is kept alive and is so demented he doesn't know how to feed himself or where to find the bathroom. I'm not judging, I'm just sayin'.

[xchrom]

4. my partner died of a staph infection.

this is years ago -- it's an awful, awful way to go.

he was immuno-compromised -- and ugh -- it's difficult to remember.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. ...

:hug:
I'm so sorry...

[fed-up]

5. STAY out of Hospitals if possible-I was lucky got only mild Staph when mom was hopitalized-1999 nt

[Socal31]

6. Yea I was in the hospital for a collapsed lung...

came home with a urinary tract infection.

[arikara]

8. The Mr went in to emergency with chest pain

and came home with MRSA in his nasal passages which then spread to painful boils on his chest and back. The doctor misdiagnosed it through 4 different courses of antibiotics. I asked him to take a culture after the first one. He refused, saying he knew what it was. After the third time he took a culture, prescribed the 4th then called in a panic after the tests came back and prescribed the 5th antibiotic which finally got rid of it.

Now when we go in to the hospital I spray everything with colloidal silver which is a potent yet safe antibacterial and we take lots of tumeric which is a blood purifier and does kill the MRSA bacteria. He has been in the hospital many time since but has never picked it up again, and its rampant there.

More info on the tumeric cure here if you are interested. http://www.earthclinic.com/CURES/boils.html#reader

[Robbien]

9. U.S. deaths from staph infections surpass AIDS deaths

Source: Houston Chronicle

About 18,700 people die in this country each year from drug-resistant staph infections, according to a federal study released Tuesday — more deaths than the United States sees from AIDS annually.

The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, scheduled to be published in today's edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, is the first of its kind to track methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, known as MRSA.

Based on data from 2005, the agency estimated that about 94,400 patients nationwide suffer an invasive MRSA infection each year. And in the vast majority of cases, the infections originated in health care settings.

"This is an alarming number of infections and a very significant number of deaths," said Dr. Monina Klevens, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC. "This is really a call to action for health care facilities to do a better job at preventing MRSA."

The once-rare, drug-resistant germ causes more than half of all skin infections treated in U.S. emergency rooms, the CDC reported last year. But until now, there was no solid data on the number of cases nationwide to serve as a benchmark.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5220692.html

[undergroundpanther]

10. when I went to the ER

Last week after taking a stair dive..while I was laying there on the gurney I thought about the staph issue especially since my head was cut open...banished the thought.

[lonestarnot]

14. My friend is out of ICU that was beat down by the rager. I have been worried

about this very thing for him.

[OneBlueSky]

11. I actually contracted a staph infection . . .

two or three months after back surgery 17 years ago -- before these staph strains became drug-resistant . . . even then I had to have some very powerful medicine injected intravenously 24/7 for six weeks . . . fortunately, it worked . . .

[AngryAmish]

37. MRSA has been around since 1961

Just not as prevalent.

[Olney Blue]

12. This is a serious problem. And it will get worse.

However, we need the money for the war on terruh, not scientific research.

[ellie]

13. My dad

died from a hospital-acquired staph infection.

[lonestarnot]

15. I'm sorry ellie.

:hug:

[ellie]

32. Thank you.

[Summer93]

16. Use of tools

IIRC from BBC they are recognizing that using the same blood pressure equipment and taking from patient to patient is not a good practice. I think they were looking into a disposable rubber band to tie around the arm rather than using the same one repeatedly.

[OKIsItJustMe]

17. Invasive Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infections in the United States

Source: Journal of the American Medical Association

...
Context As the epidemiology of infections with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) changes, accurate information on the scope and magnitude of MRSA infections in the US population is needed.

Objectives To describe the incidence and distribution of invasive MRSA disease in 9 US communities and to estimate the burden of invasive MRSA infections in the United States in 2005.

...

Results There were 8987 observed cases of invasive MRSA reported during the surveillance period. Most MRSA infections were health care–associated: 5250 (58.4%) were community-onset infections, 2389 (26.6%) were hospital-onset infections; 1234 (13.7%) were community-associated infections, and 114 (1.3%) could not be classified. In 2005, the standardized incidence rate of invasive MRSA was 31.8 per 100 000 (interval estimate, 24.4-35.2). Incidence rates were highest among persons 65 years and older (127.7 per 100 000; interval estimate, 92.6-156.9), blacks (66.5 per 100 000; interval estimate, 43.5-63.1), and males (37.5 per 100 000; interval estimate, 26.8-39.5). There were 1598 in-hospital deaths among patients with MRSA infection during the surveillance period. In 2005, the standardized mortality rate was 6.3 per 100 000 (interval estimate, 3.3-7.5). Molecular testing identified strains historically associated with community-associated disease outbreaks recovered from cultures in both hospital-onset and community-onset health care–associated infections in all surveillance areas.

Conclusions Invasive MRSA infection affects certain populations disproportionately. It is a major public health problem primarily related to health care but no longer confined to intensive care units, acute care hospitals, or any health care institution.

...

Read more: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/298/15/1763

---

...

"This is a significant public health problem. We should be very worried," said Scott K. Fridkin, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC.

...

"It's really just the tip of the iceberg," said Elizabeth A. Bancroft, a medical epidemiologist at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health who wrote an editorial in JAMA accompanying the new studies. "It is astounding."

...

[grahamhgreen]

18. I wonder what the breakdown is based on health-care providers and

private vs. public hospitals. And US vs. countries with universal Health Care.

[dipsydoodle]

19. The UK has got "universal healthcare"

and a huge MRSA problem too.

[Connonym]

25. Cost cutting leading to not doing proper culture and sensitivity of different infections

and physicians overworked prescribing antibiotics at the drop of a hat. My daughter is a staph carrier and every time she gets an infection we go through culture and sensitivity worried that it's MRSA. Thus far it's not been but we still can't seem to clear her carrying the infection. She goes in Friday for another test of cure to see if her latest round of antibiotics cleared it.

Staph is an ugly, ugly infection. I've only seen what it does superficially (DD's have presented on her skin as infected hair follicles). I cannot even imagine how gross it would get internally by the time the infection became apparent. It forms large abscesses, very gross. I'm really hoping that the test this week will come up clear because I'm very scared this will become a resistant strain of staph.

[grahamhgreen]

31. May I suggest she also boost her immune system with natural immune boosters such as beta-glucans,

[Connonym]

34. thanks for that suggestion

I will look into that. Do you know if that is effective also with auto-immune disorders?

[grahamhgreen]

38. Yes, google check wikipedia...

and the book "Prescription for Natural Healing"by Phyllis Balch.

Very effective for a friend of mine who used it in conjuction with ant-biotics and MRSA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta-glucan

[Connonym]

20. and the fundies still don't believe things evolve?

if I wasn't so big hearted I'd wish MRSA on all of them

[Turbineguy]

21. I'm not so big hearted.

I'll do it for you!

[damntexdem]

26. We need a little public-health consciousness here:

the spread of any disease is a danger to all.

[Turbineguy]

29. You are correct

[OKIsItJustMe]

22. Personal Observation

I've seen a few people stricken (some fatally, some near-fatally) in the hospital by "mysterious infections" where (supposedly) no one knows what the pathogen is/was.

I believe that MRSA is underreported.

[bigworld]

23. Say that headline 5 times fast.

[damntexdem]

24. Some real terrorists to worry about -- but too small for airport screeners to stop.

And they're home-grown, anyway. And Hoaxland Security is more likely to spread them than to stop them.

Actually, MRSA sort of reminds me of the Bushistas -- more home-grown terrorists.

[Edith Ann]

27. MRSA

MRSA has been around for a long time, at least 40 years that I know of. I have a theory that, especially in hospitals, it is due to poor housekeeping. I have worked in hospitals, medical buildings and clinics for years. I use to go to work every morning and be greeted by cleaning staff in an almost spotless environment. The housekeeper went into every room mopped the floors, cleaned the bath rooms, changed beds and emptied trash everyday. They were particularly good at cleaning after discharges and after codes or other procedures. My son was in the hospital last year, in a hospital I had worked in years before. We were lucky if they emptied the trash. When they changed his bandage they left trash on the floor and walked out. I ended up keeping my child and his environment clean and I didn't have the proper cleaning supplies with which to do it. Part of the problem is hospitals have gone to what they call primary care nursing. This makes the RN, with a college degree, totally responsible for the care a feeding of the patient. You can imagine that they don't like housekeeping chores. Hospitals are not hiring enough cleaning or nursing staff to meet the need. Their bottom line and corporate profits are more important. Another problem is doctors and staff that go from patient to patient and don't wash their hands. FYI, there is usually a sink in the room you are in make sure they wash their hands or ask them to wash. Embarrassment for either of you is not as painful or costly and an infection. If they aren't cleaning patient rooms think about how they are cleaning surgery suites.

[AngryAmish]

28. You hit the nail on the head

The only way to cut down on this is through housekeeping/infection control/testing.

Housekeeping is expensive.

Infection control is a pain in the rear.

Testing is expensive and a pain in the rear.

Health professionals do not want to be tested. Many of them have this germ on their skin and they pass it from patient to patient. They will not voluntarily test themselves because if they are positive they can't work with patients. No work with patients means no paycheck.

[dipsydoodle]

30. The issues you mention

are the main causes in the UK.

[RamboLiberal]

41. Another Measure in the UK that makes sense to me

Doctors' long-sleeved coats banished to counter MRSA

Alan Johnson, the health secretary, will today declare the long-sleeved white coats worn by generations of hospital doctors to be an MRSA-infection hazard that must be eliminated throughout the NHS in England.

He will issue a new dress code for all NHS staff requiring them to remain bare below the elbow whenever they are in contact with patients.

Ministers believe the MRSA superbug has been spreading from one patient to another on the cuffs of doctors' white coats. They think the bare arms rule will make it easier for staff to go through the correct hand- and wrist-washing procedures. Guidelines being issued to every NHS trust will also order doctors, nurses and therapists to stop wearing watches and jewellery. They will be advised to avoid wearing ties and to don plastic aprons when carrying out clinical activity.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,2170782,00.html

[Orsino]

33. God's vengeance on heterosexuals. n/t

[BlueIris]

36. Way out of line.

[Orsino]

42. I'm sorry. Did I offend?

I wanted only to satirize the homophobic pinheads who thanked God for inventing AIDS.

[grahamhgreen]

39. John - check out my movie! (link)

[eridani]

35. Probably not helped by overprescribing antibiotics and insane amounts in animal feed

That's what the market economy does. If people want a doctor to "do something" about a viral infection and insist on antibiotics, they can get what they want by shopping around.

[allisonthegreat]

40. for the price of health care, you would think...

the MRSA outbreaks would be less...wash those hands doc's and health care workers!:wtf: