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MRSA fight extends into the community
MRSA continued to extend its terrifying grip both in and outside healthcare settings during 2008, including the emergence of new strains and more appearances outside of healthcare settings.This year, MRSA increasingly showed up in community settings like schools and sports teams, and a deadly strain also struck men in predominantly gay communities in San Francisco and Boston.
Experts say the spread of MRSA (and other antibiotic-resistant bugs) is inevitable, but aren't quite sure how to contain it. Several studies gave varying answers to the question of whether screening patients would reduce MRSA infection rates, though aggressive screening of health workers was highly recommended.
In the meantime, patient advocates have been fighting to find out what the infection rates were in their area hospitals, and states like Washington started tracking MRSA cases in response. However, California decided just to track community infections and took a drubbing for it. States are likely to remain cautious about such demands for some time to come, unfortunately. Until hospitals get comfortable baring their souls when it comes to infection rates, this is going to be a controversial issue.
Next year might see more progress on the control of MRSA, however. Several promising new ways to fight MRSA infections were discovered this year, including careful monitoring of the use of antibiotics and an experimental antibiotic called oritavancin.
Comments
By ACarroll | Posted 2:27pm | December 24, 2008
How could anyone not "believe" in evolution after reading these articles? How can they justify accepting new drugs to fight the latest strains while closing their minds to how things got this way?
By Medifix | Posted 9:02am | December 25, 2008
Its not war, terrorist, credit crunch or the global warming that threaten our existence, but a antibiotic, antiseptic resistant bacteria are spreading all over the world with alarming rate. Enterococcus, Staphylococcus , Klebsiella , Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Enterobacter, is growing at an alarming rate. HA-MRSA & CA-MRSA are now colonized in 53 million people worldwide.
Relatively a harmless bacteria that people carry in their nose, hands and body have now suddenly becomes a dangerous predator, immune to antibiotics, chemical wash, antiseptic and antibacterial lotions.
These bacteria have a basic survival strategy: to colonize surfaces and grow as bio-films communities embedded in a gel-like polysaccharide matrix. These bacteria are now resistant to antiseptics, disinfectants, antibiotics and chemicals. They are not killed by phagocytes nor destroyed by immune system.
Infections is now the 2nd most common cause of bloodstream infections in US hospitals and has become the 3rd most common cause of death in the world.
By jeannette franklin | Posted 8:42am | January 21, 2009
my great grand son has been in the hospital for more than 3 wks.He has rsv or rvs,he was on life
support,it was going around in the shelter where he lives,now he has to go to a rehab to get off the
morphine and adavan they had to give him.he was having withdrawals,he is 11 months old.
Thank You
By Anonymous | Posted 8:54am | January 21, 2009
patients,have civil and religious rights,yes even
dying cancer patience,have rights,Doctors, ordering Hospice for patience are violateing them,people are
very vunerable,when a loved one is dying,and both
are being backed into a corner to except hospice...
when they dont want it...It is against the law.... There needs to be a watch dog!Its murder!
Thank you
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