MRSA Notes

This is a little more complicated than the cattle mastitis test, but it is a step in the right direction!! Rapid tests for meningitis and MRSA are being developed Rapid tests for serious disease such as meningitis, chlamydia and the hospital superbug MRSA are being developed by a new company, Atlas Genetics Ltd, which is [...]

TB Alliance and Bayer Launch Historic Global Drug Trials for Tuberculosis Mycobacterium tuberculosis infects one-third of the world’s population, resulting in nine million new cases of active TB and two million deaths each year. Public health experts note that a shorter TB regimen would help ease the economic burden, estimated at $16 billion a year, [...]

Gee, maybe they will find a similar way to speed up MRSA testing in humans! New Zealand rural news on Stuff.co.nz: It’s a DIY mastitis test “You can test for any bug you want to with this method, you just need to change the recipe. There are possibilities to expand into other species of animal [...]

WCCO-TV – Minnesota’s Breaking News, Weather, Traffic and Sports: More Treated For Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Drew Griggs had MRSA, a staph bacteria that infected his lungs. Doctors call it a “superbug” and said they are becoming more common. “The major reason we are seeing antibiotic resistance is overuse of antibiotics in the population for illnesses that [...]

I have spent the last 18 hours or so updating this blog to a better platform for our purposes in the long run, and in the process losing my husbands MRSA septicemia survival story. I think that maybe this was God telling me that now that we have just passed his 1 year anniversary of [...]

I have added a guestbook to MRSA Resources, and I hope you will sign it as you come through, and let us know a little about you, and offer any suggestions you might have to us (and don’t forget to come back and read it later, as it grows). I hope everyone is having a [...]

“StaphVAX was developed to prevent the most dangerous and prevalent strains of Staphylococcus (staph) aureus bacterial infections. This week, Nabi has announced the success of a StaphVAX consistency lots study, which was an open-labeled study testing the safety and immune response of three commercial scale lots of the drug, which was produced by the company’s [...]

“Approximately 2 million health-care–associated infections occur in hospitals in the United States each year, resulting in 90,000 deaths (1). Health-care–associated infections are estimated to cost more than $4.5 billion per year (1). For 30 years, CDC and infection-control professionals have implemented prevention strategies to reduce health-care–associated infections. International Infection Prevention Week (formerly Infection Control Week) [...]

“Three confirmed cases this week of a bacterial staph infection in the Stokes County Schools have officials taking steps to sanitize high-traffic areas and educate parents about prevention by sending out memos and leaving phone messages. The illness is similar to impetigo – a skin infection that usually affects children. But after health-care providers investigated [...]

“Dietary supplements containing vanadium are used by body builders to help beef up muscles and by some diabetic people to control blood sugar. New research now suggests the naturally occurring but easily toxic element may help prepare the body to recover speedily from infections from gram-negative organisms such as E. coli. In research at the [...]

“WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 – A small black mushroom found in the woods of northern Europe contains the first of what may be a powerful new class of antibiotics and antivirals, a researcher here says. "I think we are looking at a whole new world of antibiotics," said Michael Zasloff, M.D., Ph.D., of Georgetown University Medical [...]

“SAN FRANCISCO, CA — October 13, 2005 — The type of cancer a person is battling may influence the type of catheter-related Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia complications that patient can develop. In a retrospective case analysis, researchers found that intravascular infectious deep-seated complications such as infective endocarditis and/or septic thrombosis occur more frequently in patients undergoing [...]

I want to send my congratulations to Maureen Daly and Betsy McCaughey of RID, the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths for their appearance on 20/20’s excellent program this evening, exposing the myth that hospitals are a safe place. I am so impressed with their continued efforts on helping to raise awareness about this issue. As [...]

Prevention is so much better than cure. This is what Tony Fields writes in his incredible booklet, “MRSA – A Patient’s Defence!” But once we’ve had MRSA, we must deal with it the best way we are able. I signed up for Daily tips at www.drweil.com some time ago. Today, I got an e-mail listing [...]

“Foot ulcers develop in 15% of people suffering from diabetes mellitus, which may evolve to uncontrolled infections requiring lower leg amputation. In the US, 81,000 lower leg amputations occur per year in diabetic patients, and associated health care cost are very significant. Typically diabetic foot infections are caused by staphylococci (including MRSA) and streptococci, and [...]

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Another interesting blog item from Satyaviati at The Road To Braj is Strewn With Thorns, raising some very good points, as well as some controversial ones: “I’m not saying that people shouldn’t be concerned. I’m saying maybe that they ought to be MORE concerned about the things they’ve been told for years: wash your hands, [...]

Scary stuff here, again reported at the IDSA annual meeting: “SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 10 – In the first reported hospital outbreak of Zyvox (linezolid)-resistant enterococcus, only half the infected patients had a history of Zyvox exposure, suggesting that some cases were nosocomial infections, researchers reported. Clinicians have seen Zyvox- and vancomycin-resistant enterococcus sporadically since the [...]

I am SO glad to see the IDSA addressing this! “SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 11 – The notion has been challenged that a patient with an acute respiratory tract infection (URI) won’t go away happy without an antibiotic prescription. Indeed, a quickly awarded antibiotic prescription for URI patients proved to be an unsatisfactory substitute for spending [...]

“SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 11 – Some U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq are coming home infected with multidrug resistant (MDR) acinetobacter, and several strains have spread within military hospitals, according to studies presented here. Cases of MDR-Acinetobacter baumannii started to appear along the medical evacuation routes from Iraq in March 2003, with infections noticed on the [...]

This is a REALLY interesting article to me – we are a little undecided about Marshall’s infection type. “SAN FRANCISCO, CA — October 11, 2005 — Clinical presentation and outcomes for patients with community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CAMRSA) are significantly different from those of patients who acquire the bacterium in hospital (HAMRSA). Researchers presented these [...]

I heard from Jeff yesterday. He plans to be back in New York aroung October 20th. I must begin making arrangements for the premiere screening of our documentary. It is hard to believe that after so many months of trying to get this together, it is almost finished. Jeff is such an excellent artist. I [...]

Awareness comes in many forms. Some of us are able to reach many people through mail, e-mail, websites, chats, discussion forums, television, radio, speaking engagements and so on. It is just as important, and sometimes even more effective, to let your friends, relatives, neighbors, and acquaintances know about what you’ve learned about MRSA and how [...]

This coming Friday October 14, ABC’s “20/20″ will be doing a show about “MYTHS.” One of myths they will be discussing is “Hospitals are a safe place.” Dr. Betsy McCaughey, the chairman and founder of The Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths (RID) will be featured. My mother, Johanna Daly’s, story will be featured in the [...]

“SAN FRANCISCO, CA — October 11, 2005 — Methicillin-resistance occurred in almost half of all patients with Staphylococcus aureus who were treated for skin and skin structure infections in Phase 3 studies of a new antibiotic aimed at controlling resistant bacteria.” News – High Rate of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Infection Seen in Dalbavancin Phase 3 Trials: [...]

“Among hurricane evacuees from the New Orleans area, a cluster of infections with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was reported in approximately 30 pediatric and adult patients at an evacuee facility in Dallas, Texas. Three of the MRSA infections were confirmed by culture (Figure and Table ). In addition, 24 cases of hurricane-associated Vibrio vulnificus and [...]

“The Hospital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee published guidelines for prudent use of vancomycin to combat increasing resistance to antimicrobial drugs. Studies examining compliance with these guidelines primarily involve hospitalized patients. The growing practice of home use of antimicrobial drugs led to this retrospective cohort study that evaluated parenteral vancomycin use in patients receiving it [...]

I found this blog entry from October 7th, 2005 – Good general MRSA reference from a health care worker: “I recently saw bits of a TV show about the "killer infection" MRSA. The show was clearly designed to create panic and fear in the general public and focused in on juicy statements like: "The doctor [...]

“"We want as many patients as possible to benefit from the broad-spectrum and cidal activity of ceftobiprole, which is particularly useful in clinical situations such as diabetic patients with foot infections. Successful completion of this trial would clearly demonstrate the unique spectrum of ceftobiprole, covering not only resistant Gram-positive infections but also Gram-negative bacterial infections, [...]

Another study on MRSA in children at another Texas Childrens Hospital–this time in Houston: “WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 – Community-acquired methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are cropping up with surprising frequency in newborn boys, and mom could be involved, researchers reported here. Community-acquired methicillin-resistant staph aureus is a substantial and increasing proportion of staph infection [...]

“SAN FRANCISCO, CA — October 10, 2005 — The less time it takes vancomycin to kill off strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the more quickly the antibiotic will work in the infected patients. Researchers presented these findings here October 7th at the 43rd annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). In [...]