Important - antibiotic-resistant "staph" infections on the rise

[DonMike]

Guys, this is very important. There is an antibiotic-resistant "staph" bacteria that is going around and is very dangerous. This is not meant to panic anyone, but it is important to be informed so that you can take the necessary precautions. A friend of mine was hiv- and perfectly healthy, found out he had this infection in his lungs (we're not sure how he got it there) and was dead in 8 days. This is serious stuff. Please read these following articles so you know what we're dealing with. Thank you.

Please read the story here.

From the aids.org website.

[Squirt]

Thanks for the info! Any new developments since the April 2003 article you linked to? :francais:

[Slade]

Thanks for the info! Any new developments since the April 2003 article you linked to? :francais:

..I didn't even click on the link before I read your reply, but was already thinking that this has been around for some time now. I'm not belittling the problem at all. It is a serious situation and another example of how this country so overdoes it's meds!!

[Squirt]

Yeah crazy stuff. I knew a woman that had to have half of her belly sliced out because of the flesh eating bacteria. She was a tenant at the apartment complex I managed. We went into her place after she was rushed out. Her and her boyfriend (they were ghost hunters by profession) had 6 indoor cats in a two bedroom apartment. One bedroom was lined with plastic on the floor and used solely as a cat litter box, the whole room.

I've heard that these staph infections, seperate from the flesh eating bacteria, are caused from hospitals using so many anticeptics etc that everything is becoming resistant. Part of the reason I don't like going to hospitals, not to mention they circulate all the crap from every room of every sickly person throughout the hospital with their A/C system. yuck!

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Here's some helpful info I found

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Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus: Staphylococcus aureus (a type of staph bacteria) resistant to the antibiotic methicillin. Abbreviated MRSA.

MRSA first cropped up among persons in hospitals and other health facilities, especially among the elderly, the very sick, and those with an open wound (such as a bedsore) or a tube going into their body (such as a urinary catheter or IV catheter).

MRSA has since been found to cause illness in the community outside of hospitals and other health facilities. MRSA in the community is associated with recent antibiotic use, sharing contaminated items, having active skin diseases, and living in crowded settings.

Skin infections caused by MRSA have clustered among injecting drug-users, Native Americans, prison inmates, and athletes in close-contact sports. Community-associated MRSA infections typically cause skin lesions (such as boils), but also can cause severe illness. Some children have died from community-associated MRSA.

The transmission of MRSA is largely from people with active MRSA skin infections. MRSA is almost always spread by direct physical contact, and not through the air. Spread may also occur through indirect contact by touching objects (such as towels, sheets, wound dressings, clothes, workout areas, sports equipment) contaminated by the infected skin of a person with MRSA. Just as S. aureus can be carried on the skin or in the nose without causing any disease, MRSA can be carried in this way also. This is known as colonization.

MRSA infections are usually mild superficial infections of the skin that can be treated successfully with proper skin care and antibiotics. MRSA, however, can be difficult to treat and can progress to life-threatening blood or bone infections because there are fewer effective antibiotics available for treatment.

If someone has an MRSA infection, they can help from spreading it by keeping infections, particularly those that continue to produce pus or to drain material, covered with clean, dry bandages; by advising close contacts to wash their hands frequently with soap and warm water, especially if they change the bandages or touch the infected wound or potentially infectious materials; by not sharing personal items (such as towels, washcloth, razor, clothing) that may have had contact with the infected wound; by washing linens and clothes with hot water and laundry detergent and drying them in a hot dryer; and by telling healthcare providers that you have an antibiotic-resistant staph skin infection.

some interesting links for 2005

[basschick]

there are a couple here - one is from december
http://www.cdc.gov/search.do?action=...xt=Methicillin

[Slade]

Yeah crazy stuff. I knew a woman that had to have half of her belly sliced out because of the flesh eating bacteria. She was a tenant at the apartment complex I managed. We went into her place after she was rushed out. Her and her boyfriend (they were ghost hunters by profession) had 6 indoor cats in a two bedroom apartment. One bedroom was lined with plastic on the floor and used solely as a cat litter box, the whole room.

[/URL]

For real? Ghost hunters? How exactly did they "hunt"?

[Squirt]

For real? Ghost hunters? How exactly did they "hunt"?

Yeah for real!

They had some electromagnetic sensing equipment, heat sensing stuff, etc.
To best describe the couple I'd have to use the term "tweedle dee and tweedle dumb" kind hearted nice people that were quirky to a fault and unfortunate enough to encounter the flesh eating virus. Sad. :francais:

[DonMike]

Wow, thanks for the info everyone. I didn't realize that article was so old. A friend had it in his email when he was letting us know of our friend's passing and I just wanted to pass the info on. I was really upset and just wanted to get the word out. He wasn't a close friend, but I did know him, and am still in a bit of a shock. I just saw him the other day. You never know, do you?

Thank you for the updated information. I'll pass all those links on to my friends so we can all be informed. I really appreciate it.

[Poppy]

Staph is not fun. I got it from cutting my foot on coral and was on antibiotics FOREVER!