MRSA Notes

Our hearts go out to Mary’s family.  This should not happen to anyone:
From the Beacon Journal
When Mary Pashley, a 75-year-old resident of Coventry Township, went into The Cleveland Clinic for open heart surgery in September, she thought she knew the risks.
But doctors [...]

This sounds an awful lot like the “turn in your guns” campaign.  But whatever works:
Battle Creek Enquirer - www.battlecreekenquirer.com - Battle Creek, Mich.
The statewide pilot program, “Antibiotic Roundup,” encourages consumers to take their expired or unused antibiotics to local Meijer Inc. pharmacies [...]

Latest bug’s right under our noses - baltimoresun.com
Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined nasal samples taken from 9,622 people in 2001 and 2002. They found 32 percent of the samples contained staph bacteria. That translates to nearly 90 [...]

From Science Daily:
Sequence-based Early Warning System For The Detection Of MRSA Outbreaks In Hospitals

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From the Washington Post (must register and login):A Frightening Off-Field Foe
Brandon Noble needs crutches to walk, and he has been relegated to spending much of his time at home on his sofa. When he’s lying in bed at night and needs to move his [...]

New Clues To Fighting Antibiotic Resistance
In the continuing battle against antibiotic resistance, two new studies shed light on the complex defense mechanisms pathogenic bacteria use to evade antibiotic attack, an understanding of which could lead to new, more effective antibiotics to help save lives and combat the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. The studies, [...]

Ya know, I am very against frivilous lawsuits, and really lawsuits of any kind other than towards someone who has intentionally hurt you - but I am so glad to see that an attorney somewhere has been brave enough to take an MRSA [...]

This is another article, from the LA Times about the MRSA study, and how it will be used as a baseline to start tracking the spread of MRSA in the U.S.A.
Drug-resistant bugs find sanctuary in our noses - Los Angeles Times
Because a study [...]

I know I am thankful that someone is starting to collect statistical information about MRSA in the United States.  It is about time. 
 2 million in U.S. may carry staph; infections on the rise
DALLAS - The first nationwide statistical snapshot of a [...]

Now that I have announced new pages, I am going to take the Superbug Wiki site down for a bit in order to upgrade it to the newest version. Scary stuff, but with any luck, it will be back up soon! So come back a bit later if you have problems!
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I have added a couple of sections to the Superbug Wiki this morning, the first is Media Links, where you can find and add links to places where you can submit your MRSA story for possible publication, and the second is a place where you can add your doctors name and contact information if [...]

From Oregon, Worldlink.com:
“This past year there has been a tremendous increase in the number of boils, abscesses, and hair follicle infections that my colleagues and I have needed to treat.”
That was the first sentence of a memo Dr. Jon Yost, a pediatrician [...]

As a nail tech myself, I have been very interested in the infections received by people getting pedicures over the last decade.  This is the first article about it that I have seen that says MRSA, although that is what I have thought [...]

Rapid lab test promises effectiveness against MRSA
Acolyte Biomedica introduces a new platform for its MRSA test, which promises to set the benchmark for laboratory-based screening of the bacterium by confirming negatives in five hours and positives within 24 hours.
The news is encouraging [...]

…how important it is to wash your hands.  Yes, all the time.  Obsessive-compulsively.From press-citizen.com | Health Columns :
If you need a simple resolution for 2006, here’s a suggestion: Get in the hand-washing habit. It’s the most important thing you can do to avoid [...]

I hope that those of you who won the National Body Challenge books received your books yesterday - I know several of us did, and what a great book! I hope you will watch the show, regardless, because having a healthy body is your first step for fighting disease of any sort!
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From The Daily World (Washington):
Staph infections, including MRSA, occur most
frequently among patients in hospitals and health care facilities,
because of weakened immune systems and opportunities for staph to
invade — such as surgical wounds, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
But for some reason,
community-acquired [...]

…that MRSA is a bacteria, not a virus, but there is no contact information.  Have I ever mentioned that I really appreciate having contact information on a web site?
Hospitals Take Measures To Protect Patients From VirusBOSTON — Some local hospitals are taking extreme [...]

I only have one entry to win one of 3 companion books to the Discovery Health Body Challenge Series! Don’t let those 2 useful and free books go unclaimed.

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German researchers have proposed an automated DNA sequence-based early warning system to detect methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) outbreaks in hospitals, which they say could replace traditional slower techniques.
Outbreaks are usually identified manually from laboratory test results and patients’ charts, which is time consuming. Established outbreaks are tracked by molecular typing. To improve the speed and [...]

The Discovery Channel is running their 3rd annual National Body Challenge for their viewers and has generously offered MRSA Resources 3 of the series companion books to give away to our readers! Read to the end of this article to see how to win one of them!
Here is more information about the National Body [...]

Now that Christmas, New Years, bad/good food, relatives and the stomach flu have come and gone, we are starting back up with Week 6 in Dr. Weil’s 8 Weeks to Optimum Health in our Wellness Study Group. If you haven’t been with us before, I can say that for one, I am getting a [...]

I have put my husbands story back into blog form, which will make it much easier again to search and find the information that you might be looking for.  You can find his MRSA septicemia story at  MRSAstory.com .  There is a great [...]

Thanks to Tricia for sending me this:
ESPN.com
ST. LOUIS — Jack Snow, a star wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams and a longtime team broadcaster, died Monday night, the club said. He was 62.
Snow had been hospitalized on and off for the past two months with a staph infection. His family was with [...]

Drug-resistant Bacteria Patterns In Intensive Care Units Changing Nationally
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examined MRSA data from more than 1,200 intensive care units (ICUs) from 1992 to 2003. They found that in 1992, 36 percent of S. aureus isolates were drug-resistant; but in 2003, 64 percent of isolates were MRSA, [...]

From Reuters:
Dr. Matthew J. Kuehnert and colleagues assessed Staph aureus nasal carriage in 9,622 participants in the 2001-2002 National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey. They found that 32.4 percent were colonized with the bacteria, and 0.8 percent harbored MRSA.
This translates into weighted [...]

I think Dr. Crippen may have hit the nail right on the head when he writes of hospitals trading in their good old fashioned cleaning staff for “efficiency.”  Very sad statement indeed, but the state of hospital cleanliness is even sadder these days.  [...]

It is about time.  I have said it before, and will say it again.  Pennsylvania is coming around to seeing that MRSA is a force to be reckoned with, and needs to be monitored and prevented wherever possible.  Way to go, Pittsburgh!
From the [...]

From Milwaukee, WI - an article about the rise and dangers of CA-MRSA (community acquired methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus):
JS Online: The rise of a tougher staph
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that at least 12% of drug-resistant staph infections are [...]

Our own Maureen Daly joined RID founder Betsey McCaughey at a news conference last week.  Way to go Maureen!  From the article:
Maureen Daly recalls the last four months of her mother’s life as a living nightmare and still cannot believe that surgery for [...]

MRSA made the list at number 2:
2) Community associated methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus. It’s different from the oldMRSA. The resistance pattern and the genome are distinct. Althoughwe’ve had a friendly debate here on the blogosphere about theclinical significance (or lack thereof) of certain unique [...]