Reply #10: Dallas jail is full of MRSA--as is Texas [View All]

[rainbow4321]

http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/030105dnmetjailbug.8b64d.html

Dallas County Jail health officials treated nearly 700 cases of a drug-resistant and potentially dangerous staph infection during a recent three-month period and warn that limited resources are thwarting efforts to prevent further spread of the bacterium in the community.

For more than a decade, jail health officials have been battling, with little success, thousands of cases of boils and sores on inmates caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. From November through January, health workers at the jail treated 682 confirmed or suspected cases of MRSA.

In addition to inmates, the infection afflicts the jail staff and their families. Since February 2002, Dallas County's employee health clinic has treated 123 cases among Sheriff's Department staff members.

Texas has become a hot spot for MRSA outbreaks, a researcher with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in December. Parkland Memorial Hospital has seen a steady rise in infections since 2000, handling 364 cases that year, compared with 1,233 in 2004.