MRSA is even scarier than we thought......

[SchoolGirlHeart]

Schools closed after teen's staph-related death

BEDFORD, Virginia (AP) -- A high school student who was hospitalized for more than a week with an antibiotic-resistant staph infection has died, and officials shut down 21 schools for cleaning to keep the illness from spreading.

Ashton Bonds, 17, a senior at Staunton River High School, died Monday after he was found to have Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, his mother said.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditio ... index.html


CDC: Drug-resistant staph deaths may surpass AIDS toll

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- More than 90,000 Americans get potentially deadly infections each year from a drug-resistant staph "superbug," the government reported Tuesday in its first overall estimate of invasive disease caused by the germ.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus can be carried by healthy people, living on the skin or in their noses.

Deaths tied to these infections may exceed those caused by AIDS, said one public health expert commenting on the new study. The report shows just how far one form of the staph germ has spread beyond its traditional hospital setting.

The overall incidence rate was about 32 invasive infections per 100,000 people. That's an "astounding" figure, said an editorial in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, which published the study.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditio ... index.html

[IrishPirate]

I just saw this on the news, this is frightening!

[SchoolGirlHeart]

I just saw this on the news, this is frightening!

Just look at our BNers.... What, almost a dozen with this thing, counting family members.....

[buffettbride]

I just saw this on the news, this is frightening!

Just look at our BNers.... What, almost a dozen with this thing, counting family members.....

Very scary. 3 in my house alone...

I truly feel for that family. Unless you know what you might be dealing with, by the time you know what it is, it can be too late.

[buffettbride]

I just saw this on the news, this is frightening!

Just look at our BNers.... What, almost a dozen with this thing, counting family members.....

Very scary. 3 in my house alone...

I truly feel for that family. Unless you know what you might be dealing with, by the time you know what it is, it can be too late.

I'll also add that none of the doctors we have seen about MRSA have taken it as seriously as we think they should have.

[aeroparrot]

I think this is one drawback for technology. We have created a "cure" for something. This "cure" is now kicking us where it counts. The only way to stop this is to cut back on antibiotics. This will help our immune system start fighting some of these diseases.

I hope that those who are stricken with these types of diseases recover.

[SchoolGirlHeart]

I think this is one drawback for technology. We have created a "cure" for something. This "cure" is now kicking us where it counts. The only way to stop this is to cut back on antibiotics. This will help our immune system start fighting some of these diseases.

I wonder how many others, like me, took antibiotics every single day for *years* because it was thought to be the latest "cure" for acne....

[Marnin Grita Guy]

Schools closed after teen's staph-related death

BEDFORD, Virginia (AP) -- A high school student who was hospitalized for more than a week with an antibiotic-resistant staph infection has died, and officials shut down 21 schools for cleaning to keep the illness from spreading.

Ashton Bonds, 17, a senior at Staunton River High School, died Monday after he was found to have Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, his mother said.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditio ... index.html


CDC: Drug-resistant staph deaths may surpass AIDS toll

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- More than 90,000 Americans get potentially deadly infections each year from a drug-resistant staph "superbug," the government reported Tuesday in its first overall estimate of invasive disease caused by the germ.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus can be carried by healthy people, living on the skin or in their noses.

Deaths tied to these infections may exceed those caused by AIDS, said one public health expert commenting on the new study. The report shows just how far one form of the staph germ has spread beyond its traditional hospital setting.

The overall incidence rate was about 32 invasive infections per 100,000 people. That's an "astounding" figure, said an editorial in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, which published the study.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditio ... index.html

While I was in Roanoke for the funeral i was telling my sister and mother

about "MRS A". Sadly that High School is about 15 miles from my mothers

house and the closest High school to my alma mater.

That is just too weird of a coinky-dinky.

[Carolinadreamin']

I've been calling parents of kids that even remotely look like they could have a skin rash like MRSA and telling them to get tested.

Our football field has been treated because of higher incidents with artifical turf.

It's critical for parents to let the school know as soon as their student/athlete is diagnosed. We have shut down our weight and workout rooms for lesser infections and bleached it down. We have washers and dryers to clean uniforms, towels, etc.

I feel like this is a ticking time bomb.

[IrishPirate]

I just saw this on the news, this is frightening!

Just look at our BNers.... What, almost a dozen with this thing, counting family members.....

tikiwoman's daughter, who also has Crohn's, had MRSA as a complication! I can't help but feel that we have over immunized ourselves and now our immune systems have nothing to fight so it is turning on and fighting our own bodies. Antibiotics too, important as they may be to fight certain illnesses, are abused to the point where the "germs" have been "immunized" to them.

[SMLCHNG]

I wonder how many others, like me, took antibiotics every single day for *years* because it was thought to be the latest "cure" for acne....

Raising hand here.

[bravedave]

I think this is one drawback for technology. We have created a "cure" for something. This "cure" is now kicking us where it counts. The only way to stop this is to cut back on antibiotics. This will help our immune system start fighting some of these diseases.

I hope that those who are stricken with these types of diseases recover.

I concur.
Also, the use of truly "anti-bacterial" soaps, detergents, and cleansers could actually contribute to the prevalence of resistant strains.
All soaps and cleansers are "anti-bacterial" if used correctly. They wash the bacteria down the drain! You don't need special soap to get your hands clean in normal household applications, as long as you wash correctly. But you might be helping to create the next super-bug if you use the "anti-bacterial" stuff.

Use warm water. Wet hands thoroughly. Apply soap. Rub until suds appear, then continue over every inch of skin (say the alphabet two times). Rinse until you can no longer see or feel soap. Dry on a clean towel.

[MacPhin]

this scares the crap out of me.

david had some skin thing that kept re-appearing on the edge of his palms by his wrist. it started out on his ankle and then stopped, then came back on one palm then both. this started in april of '06. it seems to have disappeared...sometime this spring.
he had so many meds prescribed, and 2 tests and no results. i kept asking him to ask the dermo who said they didn't think the mrsa test was necessary. i was just a bit taken aback. what's the harm? if it comes out negative then great. i really thought it was mrsa. i guess he would have been dead by now if it had been.

[RinglingRingling]

I just saw this on the news, this is frightening!

Just look at our BNers.... What, almost a dozen with this thing, counting family members.....

tikiwoman's daughter, who also has Crohn's, had MRSA as a complication! I can't help but feel that we have over immunized ourselves and now our immune systems have nothing to fight so it is turning on and fighting our own bodies. Antibiotics too, important as they may be to fight certain illnesses, are abused to the point where the "germs" have been "immunized" to them.

tell me about it.. anti-germicides that "kill 99.7% of germs"... something tells me it would be better to be exposed and develop resistances yourself.. rather than wrap yourself in bubble wrap (tho it is radically-cheap)

[SchoolGirlHeart]

I have scars all over my arms and legs from never-ending *nasty* infections I had in my 20's. They called it staph but it wouldn't quit. Now I wonder if I wasn't an early MRSA sufferer....

[buffettbride]

I just saw this on the news, this is frightening!

Just look at our BNers.... What, almost a dozen with this thing, counting family members.....

tikiwoman's daughter, who also has Crohn's, had MRSA as a complication! I can't help but feel that we have over immunized ourselves and now our immune systems have nothing to fight so it is turning on and fighting our own bodies. Antibiotics too, important as they may be to fight certain illnesses, are abused to the point where the "germs" have been "immunized" to them.

tell me about it.. anti-germicides that "kill 99.7% of germs"... something tells me it would be better to be exposed and develop resistances yourself.. rather than wrap yourself in bubble wrap (tho it is radically-cheap)

It is the .3% of those germs that are the ones that will kill you.

The readily-available antibacterial stuff--soap, sanitiser, etc. doesn't kill jack squat. Just wash your hands with regular soap, warm water, and sing row-row-row-your-boat twice to make sure they are nice and clean.

[SMLCHNG]

Just wash your hands with regular soap, warm water, and sing row-row-row-your-boat twice to make sure they are nice and clean.

"Happy Birthday" is another one I've heard that should be sung.

[RinglingRingling]

I just saw this on the news, this is frightening!

Just look at our BNers.... What, almost a dozen with this thing, counting family members.....

tikiwoman's daughter, who also has Crohn's, had MRSA as a complication! I can't help but feel that we have over immunized ourselves and now our immune systems have nothing to fight so it is turning on and fighting our own bodies. Antibiotics too, important as they may be to fight certain illnesses, are abused to the point where the "germs" have been "immunized" to them.

tell me about it.. anti-germicides that "kill 99.7% of germs"... something tells me it would be better to be exposed and develop resistances yourself.. rather than wrap yourself in bubble wrap (tho it is radically-cheap)

It is the .3% of those germs that are the ones that will kill you.

The readily-available antibacterial stuff--soap, sanitiser, etc. doesn't kill jack squat. Just wash your hands with regular soap, warm water, and sing row-row-row-your-boat twice to make sure they are nice and clean.

I know that. it's marketed to the idiots who think short-term rather than long.

[buffettbride]

Just wash your hands with regular soap, warm water, and sing row-row-row-your-boat twice to make sure they are nice and clean.

"Happy Birthday" is another one I've heard that should be sung.

When we're feeling wild and crazy we sing Baa Baa Black Sheep.

[PhutureMD]

Another variation, taught to our nursing students, is singing one verse of Old McDonald, all the way through the last E-I-E-I-O. They are also taught that the water temperature doesn't matter, after the soap is gone it is the friction that gets rid of the germs. Saw this same info in the Ask Marilyn column in my newspapers Parade Magazine not too long ago.