Now a more virulent strain of MRSA/USA300 (Staph Infection)
I thought MRSA/USA300 (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) was scarey enough but nope. There’s a new staph variant and it’s more resistant AND there appears to be a concentration of the bug in San Fransisco. In fact, it’s spreading like wildfire in the gay community but also expanding it’s reach beyond. Not terribly surprising when you consider that not even HIV/Aids could stop promiscuity with the gay lifestyle.
San Francisco Chronicle - S.F. gay community an epicenter for new strain of virulent staph
A new variety of staph bacteria, highly resistant to antibiotics and possibly transmitted by sexual contact, is spreading among gay men in San Francisco, Boston, New York and Los Angeles, researchers reported Monday.The study released online by the journal Annals of Internal Medicine found the highest concentrations of infection by the drug-resistant bug in and around San Francisco’s Castro district and among patients who visit health clinics that treat HIV infections in gay men in San Francisco and Boston.
The culprit is a form of MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a bug that was once confined to hospitalized patients but, since the late 1990s, has been circulating outside medical settings, afflicting anyone from injection-drug users to elementary school students. A strain called USA300 has been a leading cause of MRSA infection in this decade, and an exceptionally drug-resistant variant of it is now on the loose, researchers say.
snip…..The germ typically causes boils and other skin and soft-tissue infections and, despite its resistance to some drugs, is still treatable by surgical drainage and several classes of antibiotics. What is unusual in this case is the high percentage of infections - up to 40 percent - occurring in the buttocks and genitalia.
Most of the infections are limited to the skin surface, but the bacteria can invade deeper tissues or disseminate through the bloodstream. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, various forms of MRSA are causing 95,000 of these more costly and potentially life-threatening infections - and 19,000 deaths - annually in the United States.
snip…..”We are nowhere near the peak,” Diep said. “The peak will occur when it spreads into the general population.”
Diep said there is reason to believe that the more drug-resistant strain will make that leap because it is just a slight variant of USA300, which became one of the most common strains of MRSA in the United States only a few years after it was first detected.
I can’t caution people enough about this infection. Personally, I think it’s extremely difficult to avoid contact with MRSA, although hand washing (with soap) helps. It was dangerous enough with the USA300 strain of MRSA but this new strain knocks out the effectiveness of more antibiotics. When you see more tax dollars thrown at HIV/AIDS you might want to note to people that MRSA kills more people than HIV/AIDS in the United States.
Previous post on this - MRSA - it’s nasty. I highly suggest you read the comments from other people who have had an encounter of the worst kind with this infection. Here’s a sample:
my brother was infected with msra last summer too. he got it from camp. unfortunatly his didn’t fare so well. he was in icu for 6 months and had to have multiple surguries as it filled his lungs and surrounded his liver. even today he still has trouble breathing and is now unable to play sports. at the time he got the infection- noone here had ever seen it (his was the first case here). now there have been several cases but still none this bad. this stuff is serious and dangerous.
Antibiotic Resistant Staph Bug kills more people than AIDS
Technorati Tags: MRSA, staph infection, new variant, san francisco, gay community
MRSA is definitely an issue and unfortunately, the whole thing is compounded by all of these “antibacterial” products in the stores these days. More often than not they kill most of the bacteria, but only stun some of them. This leads to a natural selection process in which we unwittingly populations of resistant bacteria to grow.
As for the gay thing, even gay activist Randy Shilts admitted that there are a lot of diseases associated with gay sexual relations. ’nuff said.
Comment by snakeeater — January 20, 2008 @ 11:12 am
MRSA - USA300 - This new ’superbug’ which is known as ‘PVL-producing MRSA’ is in fact not new at all. It is a resurgence of a strain that was detected back in the 1930’s. It had accounted for around 60 per cent of all staphylococcus infections before the year 1960. This is just a new outbreak.
Staphylococcus aureus USA300. USA300, is a methicillin resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus - MRSA. It has been implicated in epidemiologically unassociated outbreaks of skin and soft tissue infections among healthy individuals in at least 24 U.S. states, Canada and Europe. USA300 is also noted for its strong association with unusually invasive pathogenic diseases, which include; severe septicemia, necrotizing pneumonia and necrotizing fasciitis.
Necrotizing Fasciitis.
This disease is one of the quickest-spreading infections known to man, as it spreads easily and rapidly across the fascial plane within the subcutaneous tissue. For this reason, it is popularly called the “flesh-eating bug,” and although once quite rare, but now on the increase, it became well-known to the general public in the 1990’s. Even with todays modern medicines, the prognosis can be bleak, with a mortality rate of approximately 25-35% with severe disfigurement common in survivors.
My interest in MRSA and treatment of people worldwide, had me questioning whether antibiotics should be used in cases of MRSA and VRSA infection. Antibiotics were the fundamental cause of the emergence of MDR - (Multi-Drug-Resistant) strains of MRSA. Most of the cases treated over a two year period have been previously treated with antibiotics. This has caused resistance and made the infection more difficult to treat. We now advise a new antimicrobial solution, instead of antibiotics.
The main reason for this change, is that the new antimicrobial has no side-effects and is non-toxic and does not compromise the immune system. It is able to discriminate between good and bad bacterium and MRSA bacterium can not form a resistance to its use. We have proven this on many occassions, from treating everything from a minor Staph infection to extremely serious and sometimes life-threatening MRSA and VRSA infections. Wounds that would not heal with antibiotics have healed with this new solution.
The most important aspect of this new technology, is that it is highly preventative against pathogens, viruses and protozoan’s. Prevention is always better than cure but how many people actually practise prevention? USA300 might be spreading throughout the gay community but it is not a ‘gay disease’ as some would have you believe. But whatever you believe, one thing is consistent: “Prevention is better than cure.” In cases of PVL - USA300 strains, prevention is the only protection.
Comment by Michael Fowler — July 16, 2008 @ 4:00 pm