Drug-resistant skin infections spreading fast

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Sun, 20 Aug 2006 17:32:11 -0000

[finding1cure] Drug-resistant skin infections spreading fast

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14378409/

 

go to the site, it is easier to read.....go to the bottom of the link

and read " Infectious Diseases Section " after reading the part about

skin infections....

 

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 superbug'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.

 

Story continues below

 

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" 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.

 

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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.

 

Tattoos, towels

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 reports 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.

 

 

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may

not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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