MRSA (Mersa) Questions

Actress Continues Fight Against Hospital Errors & Rise in MRSA Cases

Link: Actress Continues Fight Against Hospital Errors & Rise in MRSA Cases.

Actress Alicia Cole, a Screen Actors Guild member for 14 years, is known for the many portrayals of doctors and nurses, including roles on General Hospital, Young and the Restless, and more. But a year ago, Cole switched from playing a doctor to becoming a real-life patient after contracting Necrotizing Fasciitis (NF), 'Man-eating Flesh Disease'. This lead to six additional surgeries and a struggle to survive. This also lead Cole to fight to bring awareness to the rise in preventable hospital acquired infections and particularly MRSA Cases. It is estimated that staph infections alone kill approximately 100,000 Americans in hospitals annually. Dennis Quaid's family tragedy is a prime example of the increase in preventable hospital errors today. Cole's plight began on Aug. 15, 2006 upon entering the same top-rated San Fernando Valley hospital that treated fan favorite John Ritter. Following a minor procedure, a quarter-sized pustule developed that would lead to the traumatizing diagnosis of Necrotizing Fasciitis. To view the ravaging effects of this disease go to Cole's site at http://www.aliciacole.com/ .

Mother pleads for op for MRSA son

Link: The mother of a disabled boy who has battled against MRSA twice is pleading with doctors to give him the chance of a better life..

The mother of a disabled boy who has battled against MRSA twice is pleading with doctors to give him the chance of a better life. Angela Wilson says her son, David Strickland, is being treated worse than "an animal" as he waits for a decision to be made about whether he can undergo potentially life- changing surgery.He has spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy. This means he cannot control his arms and legs, pick things up, walk, roll, sit unaided or talk. He is also blind. Many children with the condition do not live beyond early childhood but David, with the help of his mother, has fought for life. His twin brother died soon after birth and Mrs Wilson has tried her hardest to extend David's life through dedicated care.

'It's Everywhere': Superbug Nightmare

Link: ABC News: 'It's Everywhere': Superbug Nightmare.

Peg McQueary is at war with bugs. They live inside her and she often leaves the invisible critters behind on the surfaces she touches. She can't see her enemies, only the nagging evidence they leave behind on her body. They're microscopic and a million years old. Her weapons for battling them are heavy-duty antibiotics and disinfectants such as Lysol and bleach that she uses to clean her home. Despite her constant fighting back, however, the bugs are outsmarting her. "There's a war between bugs and drugs, and the bugs are winning," said McQueary, who is 43 years old and lives in Roseville, Calif. Her battle started three years ago, when she nicked her leg shaving on New Year's Eve. "Two weeks later I was sicker than anybody can imagine — fever, nausea, just fatigued, very badly fatigued," McQueary said

The ugly truth about life with a 'superbug' - CNN.com

Link: The ugly truth about life with a 'superbug' - CNN.com.

When I heard that high schools were closing and teenagers were dying because of the MRSA superbug, I felt lucky. Since the middle of 2006, I've had methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus six times and somehow managed to avoid the worst: I've never been hospitalized and don't fear for my life. But, please, take my advice and do everything you can to avoid this dangerous infection.

Man grateful to be alive after staph infection

Link: Man grateful to be alive after staph infection.

Seligman doesn't have the stamina he used to have before his illness. He has to take medicine for a rapid heartbeat caused by the infection. Otherwise, he is remarkably fit, and grateful to be alive. "I've cut back a bit," he said. "But this is the kind of country where you can cut back, and nobody cares." He puts in about four hours a day as executive director of Step Up, a charity he founded in 1998 that has built health clinics and school libraries, and coordinated an environmental research project with the California Academy of Sciences. Seligman has no idea how he contracted the bug, which is not a known medical problem on Sao Tom�. His illness occurred not long after a visit to an American dentist. Dr. Carolyn Cooper, a San Francisco internist and friend of the family, was first to treat Seligman, and was amazed he survived. "Because he lived in Sao Tom�, we were thinking of all kinds of exotic infections," Cooper recalled. "We took a lot of samples. Everything came back growing MRSA." It is not known whether he contracted the notorious USA300 strain, which by 2004 was endemic in much of the United States. No genetic fingerprints of the bug were taken because such tests aren't necessary for treatment decisions. What mattered to his doctors, and to Seligman, was that an antibiotic was found. It saved his life.

El Paso Man ends MRSA ordeal

Link: Las Cruces Sun-News - Man ends MRSA ordeal.

Michael Madrid is coming out of the battle of his life with a potentially deadly foe called MRSA. Madrid gave directions to the infusion therapy room at MountainView Hospital, where he and his wife, Paola Gabbi Madrid, have been daily fixtures for months. "We should be easy to spot. She'll be the tired-looking nurse and I'll be the forlorn looking guy with a tube in his arm," quipped the 54-year-old Las Crucen.

One mans MRSA hell

Link: Hernando Today - Online Edition.

With all the media hype surrounding recent infections across the nation caused by the antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus bacterium, or MRSA, not many people know what it’s like to live with it. Spring Hill resident Danny Wolfe does. Wolfe, 59, a computer operator for a local electric company, contracted the potentially deadly illness a year and a half ago, and — in his words — has been living in “hell” ever since. MRSA is spread through skin-to-skin contact with an infected person. The infection is common in places such as hospitals and schools, and athletes in contact sports such as wrestling are considered to be particularly at risk. While Wolfe believes the infection was caused by unsanitary conditions at a local hospital, he declined to disclose the facility’s name, because he has no way of proving it. He says he’ll n

Bare hands kill

Link: Hospital hazards.

Hospital rooms and corridors may look clean to the human eye, but they could be crawling with dangerous bacteria. It happens that a patient goes in for a minor procedure and then ends up for a much longer stay after developing a terrible infection. Health professionals believe that at least 250,000 patients a year develop infections in Canadian hospitals, of whom 8,000 die. The New York Times last week interviewed a woman whose 63-year-old mother went to a Manhattan hospital for a shoulder wound, where she was treated by a doctor who changed her dressings using his bare hands. The patient contracted the virulent bug methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, and died.

Being an advocate for a friend with MRSA

Link: Adventures in the American Healthcare System.

In February of 2004, my best friend of 18 years contracted Necrotizing Fasciitis (more sensationally known as Flesh-Eating Bacteria), and I took it upon myself to become her nearly constant caregiver during her battle for life against a nasty microscopic foe. I want to relate Doreen's experience from my perspective because if I had known certain things before this happened, it might not have progressed to the stage it did. I don't want anyone else to have to be at the mercy of doctors who don't know much more than the patient does about this particular horror of the flesh-ride we call life. If you love someone and you even suspect they may have this disease, step forward and speak for their rights as a patient, because they aren't going to be in any shape to deal with it, their big challenge right then is living ... period.

Click the link above for more of this moving article

HOL SHOWER SCALD VICTIM GETS MRSA

Link: The Daily Record

A TOURIST badly scalded by water from a hotel shower has picked up the superbug MRSA. Brian O'Brien, 32, was found to be infected as he awaited surgery on second degree burns to his arm. Doctors say he's likely to have contracted the bug before leaving Spain, where he was injured. But they insist it's not life-threatening and despite Brian having to remain in quarantine at St John's Hospital in Livingston, they are determined to carry on with skin grafts to his arm.