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New, lethal MRSA strain emerges

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Henry Ford Hospital
Vancomycin
USA600
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
Infectious Diseases

A new strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is emerging, which poses a grave threat to anyone who contracts it. Researchers with Henry Ford Hospital say the USA600 strain is partially immune to vancomycin, though the drug has proved effective in treating MRSA in the past.

According to research presented at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, half of the USA600-infected patients in the study died within a month, a death rate which is a staggering five times that of those infected with known MRSA strains. Ordinarily, 11 percent of patients infected with MRSA die within 30 days.

Researchers aren't sure, however, if USA600 is causing deaths on its own. Another factor may be the age of the patients, as those with the strain were, on average, 64 years old, as compared with 52 years old for other MRSA-infected people.

To learn more about this strain:
- read this HealthDay News item
- read this Henry Ford Hospital news release

Related Articles:
Study: Community MRSA infection rates increasing
Trend: MRSA growing more common in children
Wash. doctors fight MRSA screening measure

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I feel we have become so overly concerned with the potential for infection that we have gone way over board with the use of antimicrobial's and antibiotics. We as a nation has "super sized" our bugs to the point where we are at a loss for how to control their growth and ability to mutate. Physicians need to stop prescribing antibiotics to merely satisfy their patients. We need to continue to reinforce proper hand hygiene and decrease the use of anti microbial soaps, hand creams etc. As a mother I also let my children's bodies work the way God intended it to work. There are times when an ear infection, when not symptomatic except for an elevated temp, will heal itself. I do NOT give my children fever reducing medication unless their temp is 102 or above. Our bodies where designed to fight infection. Our bodies were designed to heal itself from many of the attacks that comes against it. We must suppress the desire to rush in and take over and let the body do what it was designed to do.

I was wondering can research testing incorporate:
vital signs
ongoing EKG strip
sputem testing
Cooling blamket
stool specimen/ guiac
incubated animal (rabbit)
I have the intution that propels my thoughts, to monitor the circulartory system, digestive system, and the respiratory system.
This way if a cancerous tissue exists, then the bacteria has grown into a virus. The inclusion of inflammation, redness, pain are underpinning.

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