Drug-Resistant Staph Bacteria Causing More Skin Rashes

[Sonal]

article coutesy of FoxNews.com

A once-rare drug-resistant germ now appears to cause more than half of all skin infections treated in U.S. emergency rooms, say researchers who documented the sueforum.xxxug's startling spread in the general population.

Many victims mistakenly thought they just had spider bites that wouldn't heal, not drug-resistant staph bacteria. Only a decade ago, these germs were hardly ever seen outside of hospitals and nursing homes.

Doctors also were caught off-guard — most of them unwittingly prescribed medicines that do not work against the bacteria.

"It is time for physicians to realize just how prevalent this is," said Dr. Gregory Moran of Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, who led the study.

Another author, Dr. Rachel Gorwitz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said: "I think no one was aware of the extent of the problem."

Skin infections can be life-threatening if bacteria get into the bloodstream. Drug-resistant strains can also cause a vicious type of pneumonia and even "flesh-eating" wounds.

The CDC paid for the study, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. Several authors have consulted for companies that make antibiotics.

Researchers analyzed all skin infections among adults who went to hospital emergency rooms in 11 U.S. cities in August 2004. Of the 422 cases, 249, or 59 percent, were caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. Such bacteria are impervious to the penicillin family of drugs long used for treatment.

The proportion of infections due to MRSA ranged from 15 percent to as high as 74 percent in some hospitals.

"This completely matches what our experience at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital has been," said Dr. Buddy Creech, an infectious-disease specialist whose hospital was not included in the study. "Usually what we see is a mom or dad brings their child in with what they describe as a spider bite that's not getting better or a pimple that's not getting better," and it turns out to be MRSA.

The germ typically thrives in health-care settings where people have open wounds and tubes. But in recent years, outbreaks have occurred among prisoners, children and athletes, with the germ spreading through skin contact or shared items such as towels. Dozens of people in Ohio, Kentucky and Vermont recently got MRSA skin infections from tattoos.

The good news: MRSA infections contracted outside a hospital are easier to treat. The study found that several antibiotics work against them, including some sulfa drugs that have been around for decades. A separate study in the journal reviews the effectiveness of Cubicin, an antibiotic recently approved to treat bloodstream infections and heart inflammation caused by MRSA.

However, doctors need to test skin infections to see what germ is causing them, and to treat each one as if it were MRSA until test results prove otherwise, researchers said.

"We have made a fundamental shift in pediatrics in our area" and now assume that every such case is the drug-resistant type, Creech said.

And, doctors need to lance the wound to get rid of bacteria rather than relying on a drug to do the job.

"The most important treatment is actually draining the pus," Gorwitz said. Many times that is a cure all by itself, she said.

The study was done in Albuquerque, N.M.; Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Kansas City, Mo.; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; New Orleans; New York; Philadelphia; Phoenix; and Portland, Ore.



Has anyone out there recently heard about this? In our line of work...or for some...future line of work. How concerned are you about this and what precautions are you taking to prevent you from ever getting or seeing this?

 

[Controlled Enthusiasm? .]

I come in contact with MRSA and ORSA patients all the time at my "day job".
You will not know these patients/clients exist by sight alone. Unless they disclose in an intake form, you do not know.
All of the patients who are + are usually coming in for wound debridement/A/V Fistula for venous access or some other procedure which piggybacks onto some bad illness.
Remember, use Universal Precautions and....if it is red or wet and it AIN'T yours....DONT TOUCH IT. Your


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Topic review - Drug-Resistant Staph Bacteria Causing More Skin Rashes






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nybor7






 
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Pandoras_Gift wrote:A much scary thought, my microbiology thesis was on SA, 99% of the EMT's that I worked with tested positive for carrying it on the stethoscopes.

One reason I am sooo fanatical about handwashing, and NO FAKE NAILS/TIPS....the premies who died in NICU from the bacteria under the nails of NICU nurses....and then spreading it via a jar of hand cream.
Robyn

[quote="Pandoras_Gift"]A much scary thought, my microbiology thesis was on SA, 99% of the EMT's that I worked with tested positive for carrying it on the stethoscopes.

One reason I am sooo fanatical about handwashing, and NO FAKE NAILS/TIPS....the premies who died in NICU from the bacteria under the nails of NICU nurses....and then spreading it via a jar of hand cream.
Robyn











Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 5:02 pm














Pandoras_Gift






 
Post subject: 

 













I came across it a lot working EMS... thankfully not in MT... although SA is usually what is in pimples and zits...

A much scary thought, my microbiology thesis was on SA, 99% of the EMT's that I worked with tested positive for carrying it on the stethoscopes.

I came across it a lot working EMS... thankfully not in MT... although SA is usually what is in pimples and zits...

A much scary thought, my microbiology thesis was on SA, 99% of the EMT's that I worked with tested positive for carrying it on the stethoscopes.











Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:25 pm














nybor7






 
Post subject: 

 













I come in contact with MRSA and ORSA patients all the time at my "day job".
You will not know these patients/clients exist by sight alone. Unless they disclose in an intake form, you do not know.
All of the patients who are + are usually coming in for wound debridement/A/V Fistula for venous access or some other procedure which piggybacks onto some bad illness.
Remember, use Universal Precautions and....if it is red or wet and it AIN'T yours....DONT TOUCH IT. Your
MRSA and ORSA patients should be following up with their treatments and are law abiding good natured people who would not see you without disclosing....but....we do live in the real world where many people are not so forthcoming about their health history.

Robyn

I come in contact with MRSA and ORSA patients all the time at my "day job".
You will not know these patients/clients exist by sight alone. Unless they disclose in an intake form, you do not know.
All of the patients who are + are usually coming in for wound debridement/A/V Fistula for venous access or some other procedure which piggybacks onto some bad illness.
Remember, use Universal Precautions and....if it is red or wet and it AIN'T yours....DONT TOUCH IT. Your
MRSA and ORSA patients should be following up with their treatments and are law abiding good natured people who would not see you without disclosing....but....we do live in the real world where many people are not so forthcoming about their health history.

Robyn











Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:11 pm














jjavier74






 
Post subject: 
Drug-Resistant Staph Bacteria Causing More Skin Rashes
 













article coutesy of FoxNews.com

A once-rare drug-resistant germ now appears to cause more than half of all skin infections treated in U.S. emergency rooms, say researchers who documented the sueforum.xxxug's startling spread in the general population.

Many victims mistakenly thought they just had spider bites that wouldn't heal, not drug-resistant staph bacteria. Only a decade ago, these germs were hardly ever seen outside of hospitals and nursing homes.

Doctors also were caught off-guard — most of them unwittingly prescribed medicines that do not work against the bacteria.

"It is time for physicians to realize just how prevalent this is," said Dr. Gregory Moran of Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, who led the study.

Another author, Dr. Rachel Gorwitz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said: "I think no one was aware of the extent of the problem."

Skin infections can be life-threatening if bacteria get into the bloodstream. Drug-resistant strains can also cause a vicious type of pneumonia and even "flesh-eating" wounds.

The CDC paid for the study, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. Several authors have consulted for companies that make antibiotics.

Researchers analyzed all skin infections among adults who went to hospital emergency rooms in 11 U.S. cities in August 2004. Of the 422 cases, 249, or 59 percent, were caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. Such bacteria are impervious to the penicillin family of drugs long used for treatment.

The proportion of infections due to MRSA ranged from 15 percent to as high as 74 percent in some hospitals.

"This completely matches what our experience at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital has been," said Dr. Buddy Creech, an infectious-disease specialist whose hospital was not included in the study. "Usually what we see is a mom or dad brings their child in with what they describe as a spider bite that's not getting better or a pimple that's not getting better," and it turns out to be MRSA.

The germ typically thrives in health-care settings where people have open wounds and tubes. But in recent years, outbreaks have occurred among prisoners, children and athletes, with the germ spreading through skin contact or shared items such as towels. Dozens of people in Ohio, Kentucky and Vermont recently got MRSA skin infections from tattoos.

The good news: MRSA infections contracted outside a hospital are easier to treat. The study found that several antibiotics work against them, including some sulfa drugs that have been around for decades. A separate study in the journal reviews the effectiveness of Cubicin, an antibiotic recently approved to treat bloodstream infections and heart inflammation caused by MRSA.

However, doctors need to test skin infections to see what germ is causing them, and to treat each one as if it were MRSA until test results prove otherwise, researchers said.

"We have made a fundamental shift in pediatrics in our area" and now assume that every such case is the drug-resistant type, Creech said.

And, doctors need to lance the wound to get rid of bacteria rather than relying on a drug to do the job.

"The most important treatment is actually draining the pus," Gorwitz said. Many times that is a cure all by itself, she said.

The study was done in Albuquerque, N.M.; Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Kansas City, Mo.; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; New Orleans; New York; Philadelphia; Phoenix; and Portland, Ore.



Has anyone out there recently heard about this? In our line of work...or for some...future line of work. How concerned are you about this and what precautions are you taking to prevent you from ever getting or seeing this?

article coutesy of FoxNews.com

A once-rare drug-resistant germ now appears to cause more than half of all skin infections treated in U.S. emergency rooms, say researchers who documented the sueforum.xxxug's startling spread in the general population.

Many victims mistakenly thought they just had spider bites that wouldn't heal, not drug-resistant staph bacteria. Only a decade ago, these germs were hardly ever seen outside of hospitals and nursing homes.

Doctors also were caught off-guard — most of them unwittingly prescribed medicines that do not work against the bacteria.

"It is time for physicians to realize just how prevalent this is," said Dr. Gregory Moran of Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, who led the study.

Another author, Dr. Rachel Gorwitz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said: "I think no one was aware of the extent of the problem."

Skin infections can be life-threatening if bacteria get into the bloodstream. Drug-resistant strains can also cause a vicious type of pneumonia and even "flesh-eating" wounds.

The CDC paid for the study, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. Several authors have consulted for companies that make antibiotics.

Researchers analyzed all skin infections among adults who went to hospital emergency rooms in 11 U.S. cities in August 2004. Of the 422 cases, 249, or 59 percent, were caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. Such bacteria are impervious to the penicillin family of drugs long used for treatment.

The proportion of infections due to MRSA ranged from 15 percent to as high as 74 percent in some hospitals.

"This completely matches what our experience at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital has been," said Dr. Buddy Creech, an infectious-disease specialist whose hospital was not included in the study. "Usually what we see is a mom or dad brings their child in with what they describe as a spider bite that's not getting better or a pimple that's not getting better," and it turns out to be MRSA.

The germ typically thrives in health-care settings where people have open wounds and tubes. But in recent years, outbreaks have occurred among prisoners, children and athletes, with the germ spreading through skin contact or shared items such as towels. Dozens of people in Ohio, Kentucky and Vermont recently got MRSA skin infections from tattoos.

The good news: MRSA infections contracted outside a hospital are easier to treat. The study found that several antibiotics work against them, including some sulfa drugs that have been around for decades. A separate study in the journal reviews the effectiveness of Cubicin, an antibiotic recently approved to treat bloodstream infections and heart inflammation caused by MRSA.

However, doctors need to test skin infections to see what germ is causing them, and to treat each one as if it were MRSA until test results prove otherwise, researchers said.

"We have made a fundamental shift in pediatrics in our area" and now assume that every such case is the drug-resistant type, Creech said.

And, doctors need to lance the wound to get rid of bacteria rather than relying on a drug to do the job.

"The most important treatment is actually draining the pus," Gorwitz said. Many times that is a cure all by itself, she said.

The study was done in Albuquerque, N.M.; Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Kansas City, Mo.; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; New Orleans; New York; Philadelphia; Phoenix; and Portland, Ore.



Has anyone out there recently heard about this? In our line of work...or for some...future line of work. How concerned are you about this and what precautions are you taking to prevent you from ever getting or seeing this?











Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:30 pm


















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[24 Char Left]

I came across it a lot working EMS... thankfully not in MT... although SA is usually what is in pimples and zits...

A much scary thought, my microbiology thesis was on SA, 99% of the EMT's that I worked with tested positive for carrying it on the stethoscopes.

 

[Bhuwisit]

A much scary thought, my microbiology thesis was on SA, 99% of the EMT's that I worked with tested positive for carrying it on the stethoscopes.

One reason I am sooo fanatical about handwashing, and NO FAKE NAILS/TIPS....the premies who died in NICU from the bacteria under the nails of NICU nurses....and then spreading it via a jar of hand cream.
Robyn