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10-17-2007, 09:59 AM
ROB STEIN
The Washington Post
Published: October 17th, 2007 01:00 AM
WASHINGTON – A dangerous germ that has been spreading around the country causes more life-threatening infections than public health authorities had thought, federal health officials reported Tuesday.
The microbe, a strain of a once innocuous staph bacterium that has become immune to first-line antibiotics, is responsible for more than 94,000 serious infections and nearly 19,000 deaths each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculated.
If the mortality estimates are correct, the number of deaths associated with the germ, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus would exceed those attributed to HIV-AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, emphysema or homicide each year.
Although evidence has been mounting that the infection is becoming more common, the estimate published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association marks the first national assessment of the insidious pathogen’s toll.
“This is the first study that’s been able to capture the data in a comprehensive fashion,” said Scott Fridkin, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC. “This is a significant public health problem. We should be very worried.”
Other researchers noted that the estimate includes only the most serious infections caused by MRSA.
“It’s really just the tip of the iceberg,” said Elizabeth Bancroft, a medical epidemiologist at the Los Angeles Department of Public Health who wrote an editorial accompanying the new research. “It is astounding.”
On Monday, a Lynch Station, Va., teenager died of MRSA, prompting officials to shut down 21 Bedford County schools for cleaning. The infection had spread to 17-year-old Ashton Bonds’ kidneys, liver, lungs and the muscle around his heart.
The MRSA estimate is being published with a report that a strain of another bacterium, which causes ear infections in children, has become impervious to every approved antibiotic for youngsters.
“Taken together, what these two papers show is that we’re increasingly facing antibiotic-resistant forms of these very common organisms,” Bancroft said.
The reports underscore the need to develop new antibiotics and curb the unnecessary use of those already available.
MRSA is a strain of the ubiquitous bacterium that usually causes staph infections that are easily treated with common antibiotics in the penicillin family. Resistant strains of the organism, however, have been increasingly turning up in hospitals and in small outbreaks outside of heath care settings, such as among athletes, prison inmates and children.
The germ, which is spread by casual contact, rapidly turns minor abscesses and other skin infections into serious problems, including “necrotizing” abscesses that eat away tissue.
The infections can often still be treated by lancing and draining sores and quickly administering other antibiotics. But in some cases the microbe gets into the lungs, causing unusually serious pneumonia, or spreads into bone, vital organs, and the bloodstream.
In the new study, Fridkin and his colleagues analyzed data collected in Connecticut, Georgia, California, Colorado, Oregon, New York, Tennessee, Minnesota and Maryland, identifying 5,287 cases of invasive MRSA infection and 988 deaths in 2005. Based on the findings, the researchers calculated that MRSA was striking 31 out of every 100,000 Americans, which translates into 94,360 cases and 18,650 deaths nationwide. In comparison, the AIDS virus killed about 12,500 Americans in 2005.
The estimates makes MRSA much more common than flesh-eating strep infections, bacterial pneumonia and meningitis combined, Bancroft noted.
GOOD HYGIENE is best bet
This staph infection sometimes first appears on the skin as a red, swollen pimple or boil that may be painful or have pus. It can be spread by close skin-to skin contact or by touching surfaces contaminated with the germ.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises:
• Keep your hands clean by washing thoroughly with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand cleaner.
• Keep cuts and scrapes clean and covered with a bandage until healed.
• Avoid contact with other people’s wounds or bandages.
• Avoid sharing personal items such as towels or razors.
The Associated Press
source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nationworld/story/180935.html
The Washington Post
Published: October 17th, 2007 01:00 AM
WASHINGTON – A dangerous germ that has been spreading around the country causes more life-threatening infections than public health authorities had thought, federal health officials reported Tuesday.
The microbe, a strain of a once innocuous staph bacterium that has become immune to first-line antibiotics, is responsible for more than 94,000 serious infections and nearly 19,000 deaths each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculated.
If the mortality estimates are correct, the number of deaths associated with the germ, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus would exceed those attributed to HIV-AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, emphysema or homicide each year.
Although evidence has been mounting that the infection is becoming more common, the estimate published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association marks the first national assessment of the insidious pathogen’s toll.
“This is the first study that’s been able to capture the data in a comprehensive fashion,” said Scott Fridkin, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC. “This is a significant public health problem. We should be very worried.”
Other researchers noted that the estimate includes only the most serious infections caused by MRSA.
“It’s really just the tip of the iceberg,” said Elizabeth Bancroft, a medical epidemiologist at the Los Angeles Department of Public Health who wrote an editorial accompanying the new research. “It is astounding.”
On Monday, a Lynch Station, Va., teenager died of MRSA, prompting officials to shut down 21 Bedford County schools for cleaning. The infection had spread to 17-year-old Ashton Bonds’ kidneys, liver, lungs and the muscle around his heart.
The MRSA estimate is being published with a report that a strain of another bacterium, which causes ear infections in children, has become impervious to every approved antibiotic for youngsters.
“Taken together, what these two papers show is that we’re increasingly facing antibiotic-resistant forms of these very common organisms,” Bancroft said.
The reports underscore the need to develop new antibiotics and curb the unnecessary use of those already available.
MRSA is a strain of the ubiquitous bacterium that usually causes staph infections that are easily treated with common antibiotics in the penicillin family. Resistant strains of the organism, however, have been increasingly turning up in hospitals and in small outbreaks outside of heath care settings, such as among athletes, prison inmates and children.
The germ, which is spread by casual contact, rapidly turns minor abscesses and other skin infections into serious problems, including “necrotizing” abscesses that eat away tissue.
The infections can often still be treated by lancing and draining sores and quickly administering other antibiotics. But in some cases the microbe gets into the lungs, causing unusually serious pneumonia, or spreads into bone, vital organs, and the bloodstream.
In the new study, Fridkin and his colleagues analyzed data collected in Connecticut, Georgia, California, Colorado, Oregon, New York, Tennessee, Minnesota and Maryland, identifying 5,287 cases of invasive MRSA infection and 988 deaths in 2005. Based on the findings, the researchers calculated that MRSA was striking 31 out of every 100,000 Americans, which translates into 94,360 cases and 18,650 deaths nationwide. In comparison, the AIDS virus killed about 12,500 Americans in 2005.
The estimates makes MRSA much more common than flesh-eating strep infections, bacterial pneumonia and meningitis combined, Bancroft noted.
GOOD HYGIENE is best bet
This staph infection sometimes first appears on the skin as a red, swollen pimple or boil that may be painful or have pus. It can be spread by close skin-to skin contact or by touching surfaces contaminated with the germ.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises:
• Keep your hands clean by washing thoroughly with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand cleaner.
• Keep cuts and scrapes clean and covered with a bandage until healed.
• Avoid contact with other people’s wounds or bandages.
• Avoid sharing personal items such as towels or razors.
The Associated Press
source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nationworld/story/180935.html