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INFECTIONS
... IN THE NEWS
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1.19.2007
Dangers in the Locker Room
ABC News and the AP reported on a growing problem in many locker
rooms: Skin infections from staph and MRSA. While common staph
bacteria is found in approximately 25% of the healthy population,
MRSA bacteria is a more dangers strain of staph that is resistant
to antibiotics. This means it can be particularly difficult to
treat and make prevention important part in staying infection-free.
MRSA infections are becoming more common in community settings
with as many as 12% popping up on the athletic field or in the
locker room.
"Athletes most at-risk of contracting MRSA infections are
those involved in contact sports, like football and wrestling,
because of the large amount of body-to-body contact. Even if a
player is not involved in a contact sport, they are still susceptible
to infection from common gym equipment or towels. Factors associated
with the spread of MRSA skin infections include: skin-to-skin
contact, cuts or skin abrasions, contaminated surfaces, crowded
living conditions, and poor hygiene."
The danger of MRSA needs to be stressed to young athletes and
good hygiene practices need to be taught at a young age, when
kids are impressionable. MRSA and other staph infections are generally
red, swollen, and painful, with pus or other drainage and must
be treated immediately. If treatment is delay, infections may
lead to pneumonia, bloodstream infections, or even death. Read
more from ABCNews.com.
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2.06.2007
12 Year-Old Dies from
MRSA
Carlos Don IV, a 12-year-old boy who attended Hanson Elementary
School in Ramona, near San Diego, CA, was hospitalized with methicillin-resistant
staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) on January 21 and died on February
5, 2007. County health officials have not yet determined how or
where the sixth-grader came down with the rare and aggressive
bacterial infection. Read more online.
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2.26.2007
Overusing
Antibiotics
The Southwest Nebraska News is reminding readers that despite
a widespread flu epidemic, antibiotics shouldn't be used.
"'Antibiotics do not treat flu, colds or other viral illnesses,
and they don't make patients with viral infections feel better,
recover faster, or protect others from getting sick,' said Dr.
Joann Schaefer, Chief Medical Officer of the Nebraska Health and
Human Services System."
Because of their over- and misuse, antibiotics are now becoming
less effective in treating infectious diseases. Bacteria have
developed immunity to the antibiotics prescribed and the rise
in antiobotic-resistent bacteria is very alarming to many in the
medical field. Often cited as an example of a bacteria which is
antibiotic resistance is MRSA, or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus
aureus (staph). MRSA or staph is found just about everywhere in
the environment and a something as simple as a small cut in the
skin can lead to a very serious medical condition."It's important
to use antibiotics sparingly so that bacteria don't develop immunity
and negate treatment of illnesses like those caused by MRSA, Dr.
Schaefer said."
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4.18.2007
Athletic Trainers Report
Rise in MRSA Infections
According to a published report in the Washington Post, a survey
found that more than half of athletic trainers in the U.S. said
they've treated an athlete for a skin infection caused by the
antibiotic-resistant "superbug" called methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria. The story explains that
while MRSA infections typically aren't fatal, they can cause
skin abscesses that require surgical draining, and the infections
are likely to be resistant to first-line antibiotics. In some
of the scarier cases, MRSA can cause serious and potentially
fatal problems such as pneumonia, bloodstream infections and
flesh-eating disease.
"This Web-based survey of 364 certified athletic trainers
found that 53 percent said they'd treated MRSA skin infections
in athletes. Of the infections treated: 86 percent were in males
and 35 percent were in females; 65 percent were in football
players; 21 percent in basketball players; and 20 percent were
in wrestlers. The infections typically occurred in: the lower
leg (38 percent); forearm (31 percent); and the knee (29 percent)."
Read the entire story from the Washington
Post to learn why athletes are at increased risk for MRSA
infection and what trainers should look for in their athletes.
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4.14.2007
MRSA Superbug Spreading
Openly Across US and Canada
Earlier this year, the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported
that "Clones of the antibiotic-resistant MRSA superbug which
has infected a number of professional football and baseball athletes
as well as children in day care centres in the US is set to take
Canada by force."
"The Department of Infectious Diseases, and the Hospital
for Sick Children in Toronto warn that a new MRSA mutant is quietly
spreading outside of public awareness. Canadian health officials
referred to this new strain of MRSA as 'an old foe with new fangs',
a pathogen that combines 'virulence, resistance and an ability
to disseminate at large'. Usually MRSA preys on vulnerable people
like the elderly and people recovering from serious operations
in hospital, but this new strain is infecting healthy people as
well."
Because healthy people carry the bacteria in their nostrils and
on the skin, MRSA can be contracted through skin to skin contact
or sneezing in warm damp or steamy areas (public showers, changing
rooms, and locker rooms). Read more about the growing number of
professional athletes who have been infected with MRSA, including
three US National Football League (NFL) teams who have had to
deal with multiple infections of the superbug, online.
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4.09.2007
Researcher Works on MRSA Vaccine
When Mark Shirtliff was studying for his doctorate in microbiology
he learned that bacteria can band together into sheets - called
biofilms, which alters their behavior and allows them to form
complex communities, establish lines of communication and coordinate
their actions. These stronger, nastier microbes find power in
numbers and become 50 to 500 times more resistant to antibiotics.
"Shirtliff, an assistant professor at the University of
Maryland Dental School received $1.25 million this month from
the National Institutes of Health for research into vaccines
that might prevent the deadly films from forming in the first
place. Although the public rarely hears it in popular discussions
of health issues, the term 'biofilm' was coined in a 1978 Scientific
American article by William Costerton, now of the University
of Southern California Dental School. 'It came up in dentistry
first,' Costerton said. 'They called it plaque. I just proposed
(that) the biofilm isn't just in the mouth, but everywhere."
It's true - these biofilms coat everything from river rocks
to neglected teeth to ship hulls, oil pipelines and machinery.
In addition to causing skin infections in people, they cause
billions of dollars of damage by corroding metal surfaces and
clogging up the works.Shirtliff has focused on methicillin-resistant
staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA, which, according
to the CDD, kills about 90,000 people in the United States every
year. Shirtliff is searching for a way to prevent the films
from growing in an effort to prevent people from getting a MRSA
infection in the first place. Read more online.
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