Spring Break
Treatment-resistant bacteria appears across U.S.
Methicillin-resistant Staph. aureus can be acquired in community; national survey shows highest infection rates in Baltimore
Issue date: 11/1/07
- Page 1 of 3 next >
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, also known as MRSA, is an increasingly widespread public health threat, with reports surfacing over the last few weeks of outbreaks in a several communities, including schools.
MRSA is a "superbug," a mutant form of a bacterium normally found on the skin and other soft tissues. Overuse of penicillin and other antibiotics has created resistant strains of the bacterium that are difficult to treat with conventional therapies.
MRSA used to be found almost exclusively in hospitals, where frequent use of high doses of antibiotics easily breeds resistant strains. But it has recently been seen as a community-acquired infection in an alarming number of cases.
Instead of becoming infected during a lengthy stay as a hospital inpatient, more and more people are showing up in emergency rooms having acquired the infection at school, work, nursing homes and other places of social congregation.
In a recent study by a group of researchers from several institutions, including the Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, nine communities across the United States were observed and used to produce an estimate of the effects of MRSA in America as a whole. Of the nine, Baltimore City had the greatest rate of MRSA infections.
The researchers argue that accumulation of this type of data will aid the United States in preventing and controlling the spread of MRSA. The results appear in the Oct. 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study was undertaken as part of the Active Bacterial Core surveillance system (ABCs), a program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ABCs conducted surveillance for MRSA infections in nine cities located in Connecticut; Atlanta, Ga.; San Francisco, Calif.; Denver, Colo.; Portland, Ore.; Monroe County, N.Y.; Baltimore City, Md.; Davidson County, Tenn.; and Ramsey County, Minn.
The total population observed in this study was estimated to be approximately 16.5 million people, or 5.6 percent of the entire U.S. population.
MRSA is a "superbug," a mutant form of a bacterium normally found on the skin and other soft tissues. Overuse of penicillin and other antibiotics has created resistant strains of the bacterium that are difficult to treat with conventional therapies.
MRSA used to be found almost exclusively in hospitals, where frequent use of high doses of antibiotics easily breeds resistant strains. But it has recently been seen as a community-acquired infection in an alarming number of cases.
Instead of becoming infected during a lengthy stay as a hospital inpatient, more and more people are showing up in emergency rooms having acquired the infection at school, work, nursing homes and other places of social congregation.
In a recent study by a group of researchers from several institutions, including the Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, nine communities across the United States were observed and used to produce an estimate of the effects of MRSA in America as a whole. Of the nine, Baltimore City had the greatest rate of MRSA infections.
The researchers argue that accumulation of this type of data will aid the United States in preventing and controlling the spread of MRSA. The results appear in the Oct. 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study was undertaken as part of the Active Bacterial Core surveillance system (ABCs), a program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ABCs conducted surveillance for MRSA infections in nine cities located in Connecticut; Atlanta, Ga.; San Francisco, Calif.; Denver, Colo.; Portland, Ore.; Monroe County, N.Y.; Baltimore City, Md.; Davidson County, Tenn.; and Ramsey County, Minn.
The total population observed in this study was estimated to be approximately 16.5 million people, or 5.6 percent of the entire U.S. population.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Bob Mc
posted 11/04/07 @ 1:47 AM EST
MRSA is less then 1% in the Neatherlands where "search and destroy" treatments are used against both patients AND HEALTHCARE WORKERS.
"Intensive screening of all contacts (patients and healthcare workers) and isolation and treatment of all carriers eventually led to a decrease of the national numbers of type 16" (MRSA). (Continued…)
Post a Comment