MRSA Notes

I remember *way back when* I was a teenager - we did all sorts of completely stupid things like carving our skin up with peace signs or band logos with knives. Yah, dumb stuff. This is the tale of a 14 yr old in Utah, playing the “ABC game,” where the kids see [...]

I always love it when MRSA hits the mainstream media, and it has done just that. Yesterday, USA Today’s Anita Manning presents an article about “search and destroy” programs being implemented in some of our nation’s hospitals in order to combat HA-MRSA. These hospitals have seen successful results in a few other hospitals, [...]

Congratulations to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center for receiving the Qualis Health Award of Excellence for leading the way in hospital infection prevention. They have made a hospital wide effort to reduce MRSA in their facility by extremely good handwashing by the staff, screening patients and using isolation techniques to control MRSA, and it [...]

Good news for the future of speedy MRSA testing (currently a rushed test still takes 24 hours or more to get results)! Cepheid’s Xpert MRSA Test has been cleared by the FDA for marketing to hospitals. For all ‘yall with the need to know more, here are some gory details:

The GeneXpert System is [...]

This program has been in place in the adult wards, but now children admitted to the pediatric wards at John’s Hopkins will be screened for MRSA and VRE (Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci). They conducted a study that reinforced the idea:

In a study of 330 patients that lasted four months, weekly testing found 54 percent of patients [...]

Results from a survey of 364 certified U.S. athletic trainers (presented at the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America) revealed that 53% of them had treated MRSA in the atheletes under their care:

Of the infections treated: 86 percent were in males and 35 percent were in females; 65 percent were in football players; 21 percent [...]

This is the story of a man in Maryland, and his experience with MRSA. Thanks for sharing this with us, and again, if you are interested in sharing your experiences with others, please feel free to email me at christina@b5media.com.
I contracted the bacterial infection about 3 years ago. The infection corresponds with hospital check [...]

This is Debbie’s story. Debbie is a military wife living in Alaska who acquired the even more resistant VRSA (Vancomycin resistant Staph) from a hospital when they were stationed in North Carolina. Keep Debbie and her family in your prayers. If you would like to share your story, please feel free to [...]

Interestingly enough, I recently had a great conversation with another blogger (during a blogger meetup while I was in Toronto last week) about LASIK (Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis) surgery - this is the laser surgery that is so popular now for vision correction. This is something that I have been hesitant about [...]

I encourage anyone in New Jersey who has dealt with MRSA to get in touch with Ms. Campbell. These are great opportunities to spread the word about MRSA, and sometimes it is just plain therapeutic to talk about it. Ms. Campbell left a post on MRSA Resources, but here it is again:

I am [...]