Well, it’s official. After a series of scary-sounding news stories in October and November, the public finally knows that there’s a germ with a long scientific name—methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus—and a rather dull nickname, MRSA (pronounced MER-suh by the trade).
And if you missed the news stories—perhaps due to living in an isolation chamber below the surface of the earth—maybe you got a letter home from your kid’s school (like I did) or someone brought it up at a cocktail party (ditto). People now know an antibiotic-resistant bug could be stopping by their homes soon.
Knowledge is good, panic is not. MRSA is not new; it has been around a long time, mostly lurking on bed rails and gowns at your local hospital. A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) got the new interest rolling in mid-October by noting there were an estimated 18,650 deaths in 2005 due to invasive MRSA infections, on par with deaths due to AIDS. Twenty-seven percent of patients were infected in hospitals and 58% were infected after some contact with the health-care system (such as after dialysis or surgery), but 14% were infected in the community—schools, gyms, subways, name the place you feel skeeved out by close contact with the masses.
And the news got worse. A 12-year-old boy in Brooklyn died October 14, a 17-year-old high-school student in Virginia died the next day, and in mid-November there were reports of high schoolers with MRSA infections in Long Island, New York, and Shepherdsville, Kentucky. My personal favorite touch in this tragic story: a November 11 study conducted in mice and human blood samples found that community-associated MRSA secretes a compound that causes “germ-fighting cells to explode,” according to the Associated Press.
Great, just in time for the start of the wrestling season, where skin-to-skin and skin-to-mat contact are excellent ways to spread staph infections. My eight-year-old son, a veteran of the peewee soccer, lacrosse, and T-ball circuit, wants to give wrestling a try. Will I let him? Yes. And I’m not going to worry too much about it.
As a health reporter I know MRSA is serious. (I will point out, however, that infection has always been a major cause of death in the U.S., even in the post-antibiotic period: Germs will be germs, and weakened immune systems and dirty places, such as hospitals, are not a healthy combination.) I’ve been reading studies about this superbug for years. A 2006 study found that MRSA was the number-one cause of skin and soft-tissue infections treated in emergency rooms in the 11 U.S. cities analyzed. And it was a complication of flu-associated pneumonia that killed a handful of children and young adults in Louisiana and Georgia last December, most of whom had MRSA infections or had been exposed to someone with one.
However, like regular staphylococcus it can be everywhere and nowhere. Some 25% to 30% of the population carry regular staph on their skin or in their nose, and 1% are carriers of MRSA—about 2 million people in the U.S.—and don’t know it.
Most staph infections, MRSA or not, that occur outside of hospitals are boils or pustules that may not need antibiotics at all, according to the CDC. They can be treated with drainage at a physician’s office. However, it now appears that if such skin infections don’t quickly get better, more treatment is critical.
And there are treatments. Even though people often call MRSA a superbug, that’s a misnomer. It’s resistant to many types of antibiotics, but invasive infections still respond to some drugs—such as vancomycin. (Treatment is tricky because the drugs often require an I.V.)
The best defense for MRSA is still the one your mother liked best: Wash your hands with soap and water. Among other recommendations, the CDC suggests that schools focus on having students cover wounds (to avoid introduction of bacteria into the wound or the spread of bacteria to others), wash hands, and refrain from sharing towels, clothing, or other personal items.
So this wrestling season the soap-and-water rule will be in effect like never before at my house, and I’ll keep an eye out for any skin infections that don’t heal quickly.
Finally, my son is also getting a flu shot, whether he likes it or not. He should have one anyway, as he has asthma, but I also know that exposure to MRSA skin infections and flu-associated pneumonia have proved to be a potentially life-threatening combination in the past—and I want to do everything I can to protect him.
ABOUT THE PICTURE: Magnified 20,000 times, this colorized scanning electron micrograph depicts a grouping of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (or MRSA) bacteria. (Image courtesy of the CDC.)
Comments (7)
Finally! Someone who is telling the truth and not trying to scare people. As a pharmacy student, I know the ins and outs of MRSA fairly well, and watching all of those news reports was so frustrating. Sometimes when it comes to health news, the media creates much more of a problem than they ever will solve. Thank you for finally clearing the air in a public forum.
This is really scary. In September 2004, I had an overnight visit to the hospital. After I left, my body started breaking out in pus-like spots(boils). At the time my Dr. thought they were boils, except they would pop and come back. I have seen 3 dermatologist since then and no one has cared enough to solve my problem. In looking at the pictures, they look just like this and now they are knots that constantly itch and are painful. What can I do?
I have been MRSA three times in the past 15 months. I have been hospitalized 2 times. Be very careful so you don’t get this. I been told that anyone who has it gets it back again. If you get boil/infection bump don’t pick at it. That is the worse you can do. Have your doctor check it out. They can give you antibotic medicine called Bactrin. You need very strong antibotics to get over the staph infection. Always keep it covered so you don’t pass it to some one else.
I have had MRSA since August 2008. I think I picked it up from Gold’s Gym. I too get painful ingrown hair like bumps that get very sore with a lot of drainage and at times the flesh deteriorates, leaving a gaping hole in my flesh. I generally get the sores on the inner thigh, buttocks, waste line, and stomach. I have had multiple anti-biotics but none have been able to kill the virus. However, a dermatologist prescribe Xerac AC (aluminum Chloride), which I apply with a cotton swab morning and night to any new sore and it kills the infection before it gets big and painful. I’m hoping to find a cure someday but this has made it manageable. I hope this helps any of you that have been struggling with these painful sore often mistaken for brown recluse spider bites.
This is a really good site: Thanks
My mother began getting this after she was hospitalized for a stroke. The physicians the first three times she got it said it was a spider bite and treated it as such, however it was actually MRSA and has reoccured at least 10 times over the last 5 years. Some of my other family members have also had it, my daughter, niece, sister, brother and nephew. It is so painful and very scarey when they are not treated ASAP. The best thing to do is as soon as you get a soar is contact the physician ASAP. Don’t delay, get the medicines before it gets real bad.
I am needing to know - if you have someone that has MRSA in the work place - how do you handle this situation - do you send him home until he not contagious - How to handle?
Thanks, Mona