superbugs--read, don't panic!

[Guest guest]

, staph aureus is a common skin bacteria. It is usually easily

treated. But make sure that you take all your antibiotics,

correctly. Some years ago we started seeing a resistant strain,

called MRSA, pronounced mursa (Methicillin-resistant staph aureus),

in hospital & nursing home patients. In the past few years it has

become fairly wide-spread in the community, called CA-MRSA (community-

acquired). This has happened because of overuse of antibiotics & by

patients not taking all the meds. So enough bacteria are killed to

feel better, but the survivors develop resistance. Some of these

bugs are getting resistant to the strongest antibiotics. The drug

companies kind of got behind in the game because the general view was

that we had the bugs licked; let's spend that research money on ED

and psychotropic drugs. Now they are playing catch up.

We have gone through a big commotion with this in my family. My

daughter Ginny has had pneumonia with MRSA cultured in the sputum.

Two of my grandkids (Sam's little brother & sister) have had

recurrent boils & abscesses that their doctor just kept treating with

antibiotics & not doing a culture. I told my daughter to insist on a

culture the next time. Meanwhile, their babysitter's grown daughter

& her baby developed abscesses! The daughter had to have hers

surgically drained, and still no cultures! By this time I was

practically jumping up & down. I told Theresa (Sam's mom)that an

infectious disease doc needed to get involved & if one of the kids

got another boil, I was going to the doctor with them. (11)

got a horrible one right on the panty line on the back of her thigh.

Just overnight it spread & was causing excruciating pain. Theresa

had her see a different pediatrician that time, told the whole story,

and that doctor cultured it, gave detailed instructions on hand

washing, wound care, laundry, etc. The first time anyone but me had

gotten concerned! Within a couple of days, the baby got another one,

her pediatrician wasn't going to do anything, so her mom called

Theresa's doctor, who told her to take the baby straight to Riley,

the big children's hospital in Indianapolis. Guess what! She was

seen by an infectious disease specialist! This doctor called the

baby's pedi & told him what antibiotic to use, to always culture it,

the same general instructions about preventing spread, etc. He said

there was no way to know who the original carrier in the group was.

They did discuss having everyone exposed use an antibiotic cream in

the nose, but you have to do it 3x day for at least 30 days, and

there is the concern that it will just make more drug-resistant

bacteria. So the main thing is handwashing, not reusing towels (we

have switched to paper towels)& culturing unusual or recurrent

lesions.

This MRSA is being seen more in athletes, due to skin breaks, close

contact & hygiene issues. So educate your kids. It's not panic

time, just use common sense. Rosita