MRSA kills VA teen

[keka 0]

I don't know if this has been posted already, but I though it was important to share.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,302299,00.html


BEDFORD, Va. — A high school student has died as the result of a treatment-resistant staph infection, prompting Virginia officials to shut down 21 schools to keep the illness from spreading.

Ashton Bonds, 17, a senior at Staunton River High School in Bedford, Va., died Monday after being hospitalized for a week with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, his mother said.

"I want people to know how sick it made my son," Veronica Bonds said.

Bedford Superintendent James Blevins said at a news conference Tuesday that the schools will be closed for cleaning Wednesday.

Staph infections, including the serious MRSA strain, have spread through schools nationwide in recent weeks, according to health and education officials.

MRSA is a strain of staph bacteria that does not respond to penicillin and related antibiotics but can be treated with other drugs. The infection can be spread by skin-to-skin contact or sharing an item used by an infected person, particularly one with an open wound.

Many of the infections are being spread in gyms and locker rooms, where athletes — perhaps suffering from cuts or abrasions — share sports equipment. Ashton Bonds played football last year but was not playing this season.

Ashton went to Bedford Memorial Hospital on Oct. 4 after complaining of pain in his side, his mother said. He was sent home after doctors ruled out appendicitis, but was readmitted three days later and transported to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Last week doctors diagnosed Ashton with a MRSA infection that had spread to his kidneys, liver, lungs and the muscles around his heart.

Early Thursday morning, Ashton had to be sedated and put on a ventilator. He was about to undergo surgery to drain the infection from his lungs when doctors detected a blood clot near his heart. Bonds said the clot was inoperable.

http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org
PMS#551
I love my life :)

[billvon 3,120]

MRSA and VRE are going to become more and more prevalent in our hospitals (and eventually in our cities) as doctors continue to prescribe antibiotics to deal with every runny nose and sore throat.

[riddler 0]

My daughter was born at home last year. We had two midwives attending. She's been healthy and happy for the past year. There were seven couples in our birthing class. All but one were born at home, and all are healthy and in good spirits.

The one that wasn't born at home was a breach birth. The family drove to the hospital, and baby was delivered via emergency C-section. This one baby out of seven that went to the hospital ended up contracting a antibiotic resistant strain of staph from the hospital. The family then had to spend 10 days in quarantine at a separate Children's hospital. Since then, the poor kid has had four trips to the emergency room with different ailments, but he is OK.

Obviously, without the hospital, both mom and baby could be dead. Or the midwife, who has been practicing for 35 years and has had training from "old-school" doctors on delivering breach births may have been able to save them both. But at the same time, the hospital has dangers of it's own. There's no clear-cut answer. But yes, I really think the situation is going to get worse.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[Armour666 0]

Quote

MRSA and VRE are going to become more and more prevalent in our hospitals (and eventually in our cities) as doctors continue to prescribe antibiotics to deal with every runny nose and sore throat.

and people that only take partial cycles and stop because they now feel better. And using antibiotics on animals in our food chain

SO this one time at band camp.....

"Of all the things I've lost I miss my mind the most."

[keka 0]

This is really bad !
I really hope we all can prevent stuff like that to happen!

one of CNN top stories

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/10/16/mrsa.cdc.ap/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.

Most drug-resistant staph cases are mild skin infections. But this study focused on invasive infections -- those that enter the bloodstream or destroy flesh and can turn deadly.

Researchers found that only about one-quarter involved hospitalized patients. However, more than half were in the health care system -- people who had recently had surgery or were on kidney dialysis, for example. Open wounds and exposure to medical equipment are major ways the bug spreads.

In recent years, the resistant germ has become more common in hospitals and it has been spreading through prisons, gyms and locker rooms, and in poor urban neighborhoods.

The new study offers the broadest look yet at the pervasiveness of the most severe infections caused by the bug, called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. These bacteria can be carried by healthy people, living on their skin or in their noses.

Dodging superbugs
Good hygiene is the best way to avoid infection from a potentially dangerous drug-resistant germ called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

This staph infection sometimes first appears on the skin as a red, swollen pimple or boil that may be painful or have pus. It can be spread by close skin-to skin contact or by touching surfaces contaminated with the germ.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises:

Keep your hands clean by washing thoroughly with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand cleaner.

Keep cuts and scrapes clean and covered with a bandage until healed.

Avoid contact with other people's wounds or bandages.

Avoid sharing personal items such as towels or razors.

Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

An invasive form of the disease is being blamed for the death Monday of a 17-year-old Virginia high school senior. Doctors said the germ had spread to his kidneys, liver, lungs and muscles around his heart.

The researchers' estimates are extrapolated from 2005 surveillance data from nine mostly urban regions considered representative of the country. There were 5,287 invasive infections reported that year in people living in those regions, which would translate to an estimated 94,360 cases nationally, the researchers said.

Most cases were life-threatening bloodstream infections. However, about 10 percent involved so-called flesh-eating disease, according to the study led by researchers at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There were 988 reported deaths among infected people in the study, for a rate of 6.3 per 100,000. That would translate to 18,650 deaths annually, although the researchers don't know if MRSA was the cause in all cases.

If these deaths all were related to staph infections, the total would exceed other better-known causes of death including AIDS _ which killed an estimated 17,011 Americans in 2005 -- said Dr. Elizabeth Bancroft of the Los Angeles County Health Department, the editorial author.

The results underscore the need for better prevention measures. That includes curbing the overuse of antibiotics and improving hand-washing and other hygiene procedures among hospital workers, said the CDC's Dr. Scott Fridkin, a study co-author.

Some hospitals have drastically cut infections by first isolating new patients until they are screened for MRSA.

The bacteria don't respond to penicillin-related antibiotics once commonly used to treat them, partly because of overuse. They can be treated with other drugs but health officials worry that their overuse could cause the germ to become resistant to those, too.

A survey earlier this year suggested that MRSA infections, including noninvasive mild forms, affect 46 out of every 1,000 U.S. hospital and nursing home patients -- or as many as 5 percent. These patients are vulnerable because of open wounds and invasive medical equipment that can help the germ spread.

Dr. Buddy Creech, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, said the JAMA study emphasizes the broad scope of the drug-resistant staph "epidemic," and highlights the need for a vaccine, which he called "the holy grail of staphylococcal research."

The regions studied were: the Atlanta, Georgia, metropolitan area; Baltimore, Maryland; Connecticut; Davidson County, Tennessee; the Denver, Colorado, metropolitan area; Monroe County, New York; the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area; Ramsey County, Minnesota.; and the San Francisco, California, metropolitan area.

http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org
PMS#551
I love my life :)

[wildcard451 0]

I've had patients come in with several members of the same family with MRSA skin infection due to sharing the same razor to shave faces/private parts on different individuals.

You can't cure stupidity.

It is becoming much more prevalent. Systemically it can be once nasty bug. Unfortunately, we're probably all carriers. I'd hate to see what would happen if they cultured all the hospital staffs' noses and stethescopes and such.

When you start thinking about it I remember why I wash/alcohol my hands over 50 times a day.

Our hospital has signs up, and don't hesitate to ask if you or a loved on is in the hospital if the providers about to see you have washed their hands. You really don't wanna know where those hands have been.

[ladydyver 0]

...since your mentioning sore throats....I have only seen about 20-30 patients with that this week....not one of them got antibiotics because none of them had strept - which is the only time I prescribe abx for a sorethroat ....lets just say I was the least popular provider in the clinic and had left several people unhappy......all of them wanted antibiotics.

the other problem with mrsa is that there are two major strains...hospital acquired and community acquired....nasty little bugs too. Most of what I have seen has been in the skin, but there are patients' out there who get it in their lungs....and it is deadly when it is systemic.

DPH # 2
"I am not sure what you are suppose to do with that, but I don't think it is suppose to flop around like that." ~Skootz~
I have a strong regard for the rules.......doc!

[freakyrat 1]

I contracted MRSA from a brown recluse bite. The doctors used Levoquin on it and it worked.

One of my co-workers daughters thought nothing about getting a little scraped up playing in their yard. A few days later she started getting sick and ended up in Texas Children's Hospital. Fortunately the doctors were able to diagnose a MRSA infection that had spread to her lungs etc. She was deathly ill but was able to survive after being in there for weeks on IV antibiotics. She's quite healthy today.

The moral of this story is to make sure you wash all cuts or scrapes out thoroughly and keep tripple-antibiotic ointment in your medicine cabinet. These measures can prevent a staph infection in most cases.

If you go to the gym etc. Wipe down all exercise surfaces etc and just use plain common sense.

MRSA isn't any fun and can be very deadly.

Chris

[wildcard451 0]

Quote

...since your mentioning sore throats....I have only seen about 20-30 patients with that this week....not one of them got antibiotics because none of them had strept - which is the only time I prescribe abx for a sorethroat ....lets just say I was the least popular provider in the clinic and had left several people unhappy......all of them wanted antibiotics.

I do my best to educate the patients that I choose not to write abx for (which in reality is most all of them) and most understand if you provide adequate clinical reasoning for your choice. For my more educated patients I sometimes even print an evidence-based article for them to take home on why I didn't give little johnny the magic pill for his sniffles.

Other people are just hopeless and believe that there is a magic cure for everything. Those are also the people most likely to not take the entire course once they start feeling better.

[billvon 3,120]

>lets just say I was the least popular provider in the clinic . . .

Yep. Someone can read articles and nod their heads all they like when it comes to antibiotic resistant bacteria, but when it's their kid, suddenly there's only one problem in the world for them.

[ShefBoiRD 0]

this is scary.

As a public school employee (computer tech) I'm always worried about the nasties I'm exposed to - I try to touch doorknobs, etc. as rarely as possible, probably wash hands thoroughly 10-15 times a day & anti-bacterial lotion stuff too. So, should I do 50 times?

Strafing field mice, twice an hour.

[Shotgun 1]

Quote

I try to touch doorknobs, etc. as rarely as possible, probably wash hands thoroughly 10-15 times a day & anti-bacterial lotion stuff too.

I think that anti-bacterial lotions (soaps, etc.) are part of the reason we're seeing an increase in stuff like MRSA.

[wildcard451 0]

Quote

this is scary.

As a public school employee (computer tech) I'm always worried about the nasties I'm exposed to - I try to touch doorknobs, etc. as rarely as possible, probably wash hands thoroughly 10-15 times a day & anti-bacterial lotion stuff too. So, should I do 50 times?

That wasn't what I was referring to. There was a lot of talk in this thread about spreading infections from one persn to another. Every time I enter and leave a patient's room I either wash my hands of alcohol foam myself so that I don't spread anything from one person to another.

For that same reason I refuse to wear a tie in the hospital as well. It will either hang down onto each patient's body or bed when I am over them or it will spend its time stuffed into my shirt where it doesn't do a good job of improving my wardrobe; its only other function.

[ShefBoiRD 0]

I concur. Agree 100%

Unfortunately in my world, I have to work on people's PCs with such footprints on them it makes my skin crawl to think of it. There are people's PCs I won't even touch without "glovin' up" first - (Surgical gloves so I don't have to touch their input device(s) such as keyboards & mice).

While such hand disinfectants can and/or* does reduce the body's natural immunity, it's about the only peace of mind I know of when I must visit potentially germ-infested (& who knows what else) places. (If that is a "part of the reason" to which you refer).

---
* I'm no doctor, but I do like to study anatomy! LOL

Strafing field mice, twice an hour.

[skymama 37]

Quote

Many of the infections are being spread in gyms and locker rooms, where athletes — perhaps suffering from cuts or abrasions — share sports equipment. Ashton Bonds played football last year but was not playing this season.

My son's soccer teams don't really share equipment, but they will chug from each other's water coolers real quick during short breaks in the game. Can the virus live on plastic long enough to spread? I'm just thinking...they get scrapes on their legs all the time, if they touch that and then flip open the top of the water cooler...is it possible to spread it that way?

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[ExAFO 0]

We're all gonna die!!! (Eventually.)

Illinois needs a CCW Law. NOW.

[skyninja 0]

MRSA is not a virus. Does sound like they would be spreading virii with the (always-manly) communal water bottles though.

I'd say just make sure he showers/washes thoroughly when he gets home. Soap and water does wonders.

Why don't you just play 'chicken' on the railroad tracks? It would be a cheaper way to toy with death, I'm sure.

CWR #2 - "You SAID collision!"

[billvon 3,120]

>Can the virus live on plastic long enough to spread?

Not a virus; the bacteria can live on dry/wet surfaces such as plastic, skin and clothing. Soap works, alcohol works better. Avoid antibacterials for everyday usage. Scrapes and the like don't increase the risk of transmitting MRSA unless the person is infected (not likely if they're playing soccer.) However, as always, disease can be transmitted/contracted much more easily when the skin is broken, so follow usual wound precautions for injuries.

[mouth 0]

A child I taught contracted MSRA a few years back and almost died. Readers Digest did a good piece on the spread and it's prevention. Our school system ran scared for a time with all the handwashing and disinfecting stuff but now things seem to be just like they were. Lucky for Drew he recovered and is just as silly.

--
Hot Mama
At least you know where you stand even if it is in a pile of shit.

[ladydyver 0]

For that same reason I refuse to wear a tie in the hospital as well. It will either hang down onto each patient's body or bed when I am over them or it will spend its time stuffed into my shirt where it doesn't do a good job of improving my wardrobe; its only other function.

It is funny that you mention that. I read an article recently about how providers are no longer allowed to wear jewelry, ties in the hospitals in england. I more worry about stethescopes and that sort of thing, but the study sited that ties do attribute to the spread of bacteria.. It will be interesting to see if things change here -

DPH # 2
"I am not sure what you are suppose to do with that, but I don't think it is suppose to flop around like that." ~Skootz~
I have a strong regard for the rules.......doc!