MRSA Notes

I have mentioned bacteriophages and phage therapy a number of different times over the time I have been writing about MRSA, but it seems to be finding its way into my life more than normal lately, via questions from MRSA patients and caregivers and articles of late. I hope this slight increase in buzz […]

I wish I could take the credit for this great list, but my dear friend Michelle, one of the many loving regulars on the MRSA forum, is the rightful author. This is a compilation of things we are asked and talk about all the time in regards to keeping your house clean while you […]

I was reminded again today of the email that makes the rounds every so often about another household bacterial hazard - your purse. Since household germs seems to be my little theme of the week, I thought I would dig this one back up for you. You can read one email about dirty […]

I hate to even talk about this, but I have heard two horrific stories lately of babies born with MRSA septicemia. This is a VERY technical article, titled “What Organisms Cause Neonatal Sepsis,” but if you need it, it is here, at PediatricEducation.org.
One thing interesting to me in this article was that Staphylococcus aureus […]

In a gesture of good will and marketing sense, PURE Bioscience has donated 200 gallons of its new silver-based high performance, low toxicity disinfectant, Staph Attack, to the City of San Diego’s First Responders. They have led the horse to water, let’s pray that they take a drink. Then invite their other horsey […]

This is a hoot - I guess I am not the only one reading about microwaving your sponges these days. Professor Charles Penn writes for the UK’s Daily Mail about how microwaving your sponge is a ridiculous waste of time:

it’s a waste of time and we should stop being so obsessive about cleanliness.

As you […]

I notice in the poll in the sidebar (you HAVE answered the poll in the sidebar, right?), that so many of us are patients or caregivers of people with MRSA. I just want to extend an invitation to you to join our MRSA discussion forum - we have a wonderful group of caring people […]

Researchers at the Texas A&M Health Science Center (whoop!) have linked the PVL toxin in CA-MRSA to necrotizing pnemonia. This is frightening, but hopefully it is best to know what we are dealing with, rather than not knowing, which is so often the case with MRSA. I am going to let someone else […]

Can you guess what they are? The answers might not be what you think:
1. Kitchen Sponges and Dishrags - you can microwave your sponges to kill bacteria - but be sure they are wet when you put them in - they have been known to ignite! I much prefer throwing out the […]

Here are some links to some interesting MRSA related stories from over the weekend:
Jessica Snyder Sach wonders why MRSA is such big news in Canada and the UK, but it’s not getting the same media coverage here. Can you say “big pharma?”
My favorite natural doctor, Dr. Andrew Weil, addresses Staph infections and treatment with […]

I am looking for people who have dealt with HA-MRSA in New Hampshire. If you fit the bill and would like to talk to someone about your experiences, please leave a comment, or email me at christina@b5media.com .
HA MRSA, MRSA, MRSA in the U.S., PR & MediaShare This

Green Tea has so many benefits to your body, which is something that has been known for ages, and it has been long suspected that it has infection fighting agents as well. Now the specific bacteria fighting agents within the tea have been found.

Now researchers from the National institute of Chemistry in Ljubljana, […]

It has been a while since we have heard about MRSA in association with Hurricane Katrina, but it is back in the news. Mississippi’s Clarion-Ledger reported over the weekend that some people who have been working in New Orleans during the deadly hurricane have been presenting sores and lesions on their skin believed to […]

Consumers Union has had a very helpful site for a while now, where you can contact your legislators easily, via a premade email, about your MRSA concerns. They have now joined forces with RID, and have a letter about hospital acquired infections that you can send. Find it at this link, where you […]

It’s not so good being first all the time, Delaware. The Delaware State Police Training Academy is the latest facility to do battle with MRSA. During the 20th week of its 22 week course for new police officers, two people were diagnosed with MRSA. The health department was called in to advise […]

Lots of personal MRSA stories coming out now, for some reason. This is the story of Roger Jenkins, a wrestling instructor and a candidate for the Canadian Olympic team in 2004. MRSA attacked him 2 weeks prior to the Olympic trials, he has now recovered fully. One particularly interesting part of his story […]

Isis Nizer is an 11 year old girl in Ocala, Florida who is now suffering septicemia resulting from a kick to the leg way back in November.

Isis first developed a blood clot in her thigh bone on Sunday after her knee injury. She was transferred to Shands Alachua General Hospital for treatment.
By Monday she […]

Welcome to another Theme Day at the Science & Health channel at b5media! We have come a good way over the past year in helping make folks aware of MRSA and here is an overview of some of the most influential events of 2006.
January 2006 - ESPN Broadcaster Jack Snow dies from complications from […]

AARP is featuring an article, Dirty Hospitals, this month in their magazine. The article is chock full of sad statistics (”Some 2 million patients get a hospital-acquired infection every year.”), and features Dr. Betsy McCaughey, from RID:

A leading light of that movement is Betsy McCaughey, a health policy expert and former lieutenant governor of […]

Suffolk, Virginia’s Western Tidewater Regional Jail has been having recent problems with MRSA. They have not released the type of infections, nor the numbers, but they do say that they have been working with the health department to put in place better procedures for control and prevention.
In order to keep the panic to […]

I frequently hear this question, and my answer is always the same - MRSA is transmitted by skin to skin contact, so certainly sexual activity provides the opportunity. Compounding the issue is the fact that MRSA likes to colonize in those warm, moist nether-regions. The subject comes up even more frequently when considering […]

In an article published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, infectious disease experts warn of MRSA strains that are emerging and spreading with alarming rapidity across Canada. These are the same strains that have been working in the U.S. on our children and our athletes.

The resistant bacteria is an “old foe with […]

In a general, but fairly good article on MRSA today, MRSA: Superbug or False Alarm?, NBC Dallas compares the nations fear of the ebola virus from a few years ago with the real and present danger of MRSA, and proclaims that MRSA is indeed a superbug and one we need to watch:

In 1994, a […]

First, a reminder of why you should never try to pop a cyst on your face.
 
And second, an extremely graphic video of a member of hospital staff cleaning out a “brown recluse spider bite.” I am pretty darned sure that is not a spider bite, but our old chum, MRSA.
**Both of these […]