MRSA Notes

Just a quick note to apologize for my absence - life is crazy over here right now and I am now sick as a dog (allergies, nothing serious *sneeze*). I will be back probably in the morning and will catch up on the MRSA news of the week.
Edit - Saturday morning:
Ok, obviously I lied. […]

The important first step is to remove all dead tissue and contaminants from the wound area. Ideally this just involves cleaning the wound with soap and water, but in more serious wounds it can involve debridement, or the physical removal of dead and dying tissue, in which case you absolutely need to be under a […]

At least 45 students in Sumner, Rutherford and Franklin, TN counties have been diagnosed with Staphylococcal infections in the past couple of weeks - the Rutherford county students had MRSA, the antibiotic resistant bacteria.
All schools began a daily program of disinfection (with bleach) of the athletic facilities, bathrooms and cafeterias, and do not […]

Three students at Ohio’s Lakewood High School have confirmed cases of MRSA, with fifteen other cases still inconclusive. These students are involved in the football squad and the girls soccer program.
Be careful out there, athletes!
Source
Awareness, CA MRSA, MRSA in Schools/Athletics, MRSA in the U.S., OhioShare This

The following is a press release from Johns Hopkins about research being done to understand why some people have recurrent sinus infections, despite being given all of the current therapies and even undergoing unsuccessful surgeries. The long and short of it is that these people have reduced gene activity in the body’s nasal immune […]

A study has been done by testing samples from surfaces in Canadian hospitals, and the results were quite different from what was expected:
The study examined more than 4,000 samples from 19 intensive care units in Canadian hospitals. It found that 20 to 50 percent of staphylococcus aureus bacteria, a major cause of wound and skin […]

This is from Deanna, Moira’s mother - Moira is recovering well (thank goodness) from an MRSA infection:
My 2 year old daughter, Moira, spent the last few weeks in the Children’s Hospital in isolation due to an infection caused by MRSA - MRSA stands for methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus…and is an antibiotic resistant strain of Staph. […]

This from WBTV.com in Charlotte:

The MRSA staff infection has been reported among some student-athletes in Lincoln County.
Altogether, there have been five cases with the most recent cases reported this past Thursday.
One case happened before school started and the remaining cases have happened at West Lincoln High School.
All of the people with MRSA are athletes […]

This is something I have been doing since my husband was sick with MRSA and I have learned so much more about the proper use of antibiotics. A tidbit of history here - my daughter, who is now 12, had a series of ear infections from infancy on until a year or so ago. […]

I *just* received this in my email - how timely, and ultimately, how frightening:
To whom it may concern,
A Public School in Lincolnton North Carolina has just been closed with 30 cases of MRSA.
This information was received from a relative whose children attend this school.
I found your address while surfing the wed to learn about this […]

Just a quick FYI, according to a study from University of Arizona researchers, classrooms have the highest bacteria count - 20 times more bacteria than lawyer’s offices and 7 times more bacteria than the doctor’s office. Why in God’s green earth they chose to test lawyers offices I do not know, but that is […]

Chitin, found in shells of crustaceans, contains Chitosan, which is currently being tested as an infection preventative in implanted medical devices. The substance, harmless to humans and currently used in a variety of different applications, has shown to cause injury to bacteria that choose to attempt to attach to it, resulting in a much […]

As if the last two stories weren’t enough, 3 athletes at a Baldwin County, Alabama high school have been diagnosed with staph infections, one of the students with antibiotic resistant MRSA. Anybody paying attention to this? Just a few weeks into the school year…
Three recent cases of staph infection at a Baldwin County […]

Imagine this - same story, different school. Two more students at Bowdoin College in Maine were diagnosed with MRSA this week, and the school has reacted:
The diagnosis of the first student with the infection, a member of the football team, led to the closing of several athletic facilities for cleaning, including part of Farley […]

Just barely more than a week after classes have officially gotten under way at Stang High School in Massachusetts, 2 confirmed cases of MRSA and one unconfirmed case have appeared among their male student athletes.
Mrs. Dougall [the principal] said letters were sent home Tuesday to the parents of the school’s male and female […]

MRSA is becoming more common in St. Charles Parish in Louisiana, and the media is trying to get the word out:
Four years ago, Luling pediatrician Juan Fukuda rarely saw serious skin infections caused by this bacterium. Today, the doctor says patients are coming to his office at the St. Charles Community Health Center nearly every […]

Physicians at Houston’s Texas Children’s Hospital have discovered an association between community acquired MRSA and two muscular infections that are common in tropical countries and becoming more frequently found here:
Pyomyositis is an acute bacterial infection of skeletal muscle that produces an abscess within the muscle. Myositis is also a muscle infection, but does […]

Welcome to September’s Theme Day at b5media’s Science and Health Channel! This month we are featuring Top-Ten lists:
At A Dozen Steps, Mark W. is overwhelmed with visions of top-ten lists when he lives in more of a base 12 world, but he has mostly settled on one: The Top-Ten Posts at A Dozen […]

This is part of the b5media Science and Health channel’s monthly Theme Day, which has arrived again today. Here are the top 10 ways to keep MRSA out of your home and out of your life! Be sure and check out the other theme day posts, you won’t want to miss them!

10. […]

It is not abnormal for a doctor to misdiagnose MRSA as a spider bite or a more common pimple, as citizens of Tahlequah, Oklahoma are learning - some the hard way. If you are not comfortable with the treatment you are getting from your doctor, seek a second opinion, it could save your life. […]

Now, with 3 dogs, 10 cats, 2 sugar gliders, 10 chickens, 3 horses and 2 cows (all pets), I know there are some dangers associated with having pets. MRSA dangers, you might ask? Yep, there are MRSA dangers.
This is the story of Rachael Wakefield, of Manchester, England, who has acquired a […]

Through the very heartbreaking story of Jacob Marshall, Fresno’s local ABC news station is warning the community about the dangers of MRSA:
Jacob Marshall’s mother Millie says it took just a few hours for the aggressive bacteria to settle in and take over her son’s body.
“Just overnight, it happened so fast that the bacteria started attacking […]

One of the things that people tell me that they like to see on my web sites is personal accounts of their MRSA battles. I have been doing a sore job lately gathering new stories, but am back on track and ready to collect them again. If you would like to send them […]