MRSA, Staph, Staff, Mersa, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Symptoms & Treatment

MRSA victims in call for more information

Link: The Citizens Voice - MRSA cases trigger need for information.

Having experienced firsthand the dangers of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA, those who have encountered the deadly bacterium say the community desperately needs to promote awareness. Resurfacing periodically in Luzerne County, MRSA has plagued institutions ranging from school districts to health care facilities. A strain of bacteria commonly found in the nose and on the skin, MRSA is known for its resistance to antibiotics and usually spreads via hand-to-hand contact, open wounds or nasal secretions. It is most often found in hospitals, prisons, contact sports, locker rooms and military settings. Given that MRSA can be lethal in extreme cases, too many people have adopted a casual attitude, said Wilkes-Barre resident Cecilia Leigh, a former nurse’s assistant.

Ash Snubs Victims Of Superbug

Link: Ash Snubs Victims Of Superbug - The Daily Record.

ACTRESS Leslie Ash is said to have snubbed the MRSA support group, despite boasting of wanting to help victims of the superbug. They said the star, who won a �5million payout after her career was ruined by MRSA, ignored a plea to join them. Ash invited sufferers to the London launch of a new gel she fronted that killed MRSA and other bacteria. Tony Field, of the 660-member MRSA Support, said: "We were pleased to meet her and invited her to join our group. "It would have been terrific if Leslie had joined us to make our plight a little bit more high-profile. "Unfortunately, Leslie did not seem enamoured at the prospect of joining us at the time and never responded officially to our invite. It's disappointing."

AIDS Actvists Want CA MRSA action over new strain

Link: MRSA Spike Among Gay Men: 'Comprehensive Public Health Approach Needed,' Says AHF.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), today expressed concern over a recent study first reported publicly today in an ‘Annals of Internal Medicine’ article which found that sexually active gay men in San Francisco were 13 times as likely to contract methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a drug-resistant strain of bacteria, than their heterosexual counterparts. On the heels of recent increases in both HIV infections and syphilis among men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM), AHF believes a multi-pronged public health approach to the prevention of infectious diseases and STDs targeting this and other at-risk populations must be undertaken. AHF also believes that it is crucial that such an effort be sustained for the longer term, and that despite potential budgetary cuts on a state and federal level, significant public health resources and funding must be targeted to help break the chain of new infections in the MSM community, and which according to today’s report, also have the potential to spread into the general population. According to Reuters (“Drug-resistant Staph Passed in Gay Sex—US Study,” Amanda Beck, Reporter, 1/14/08), “Incidence of MRSA is rising along with the resurgence of syphilis, rectal gonorrhea, and new HIV infections partly because of changes in beliefs about the severity of HIV and an increase in risky behaviors, such as illicit drug use and having sex that abrades the skin, Diep's team wrote.” “I am concerned by this latest report showing a significant increase in MRSA infections among men-who-have-sex-with-men, a population already at higher risk for possible HIV exposure,” said Dr. Homayoon Khanlou, Chief of Medicine for AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “We know that co-infection with HIV and other STDs can also decrease a patient’s overall well-being and make it easier for an individual to transmit or contract any of these infections. We need to work together to step up our public health outreach and adopt innovative, multi-pronged approaches to the prevention of these infections before they have a chance to become entrenched and endemic both in the MSM and general populations.” “This report should serve as a wake up call and as a catalyst to fast-track and develop innovative, broad-based approaches to public health outreach programs nationwide,” said Whitney Engeran, III, Director, Public Health Division for AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “Sustained and focused prevention efforts and effective risk-reduction initiatives must be scaled up across the country if we are going to reverse this trend in infections among MSM. Better leadership is required at all levels: federal, state, local and within communities themselves. The efforts should not only be made when the spotlight is on, such as after a report like this one. We need a sustained, unified commitment that doesn’t flag when the numbers begin to decrease.”

Patient/Doctor group call for MRSA clarity

Link: .

Neil Manser of the NCHI, said: “Misconceptions around MRSA risk affecting public confidence in hospital treatment. In addition, out of sheer ignorance, many people who have been infected by MRSA have unjustly been made to feel ostracised. It is therefore vital that clear, accurate information should be provided to patients and this report is an important part of this process.” The members of the Working Group and NCHI are calling for the following points to be addressed to ensure that the general public is better informed and that people with MRSA receive the best possible care: Accurate, easy-to-understand information about MRSA and other healthcare-associated infections must be available to patients and the public People with MRSA need to be informed of their possible treatment options (including home treatment, if appropriate) and be involved in treatment decisions Specialist teams, including microbiologists, should be consulted on the management of patients with healthcare-associated infections, including MRSA Hospital trusts need to have arrangements in place to enable appropriate patients to receive MRSA treatment at home People discharged from hospital with MRSA need to have appropriate support and follow-up and have ongoing access to information and advice Copies of the report are available for download at www.nc-hi.com

Patient Action Video

One mans poignant account of his fathers illness and his own response

A Hundred Thousand Dead Because of Carelessness

Link: A Hundred Thousand Dead Because of Carelessness.

Accidental hospital infection, aside from diabetes or Alzheimer's     * kills more Americans than alcoholism,     * knocks off almost twice as many as car crashes,     * amounts to three times the number of suicides,     * five times the homicide rate,     * three times all deaths by firearms and     * five and a half times as many deaths as are attributed to illegal drug use. Yet we mandate seatbelts in cars by federal law, worry ourselves sick over firearms and spend $18 billion annually (about a million dollars a death) on the War on Drugs. We expect to be at risk if we’re seriously overweight. Cancer might be fatal. Everyone knows that standing under a lone tree during a thunderstorm is dangerous. Walking the edge of a highway at night, wearing dark clothes isn’t a good idea and those who drive drunk have little to complain about when they hit a tree or, worse yet, another car. But who expects to go into the hospital with a simple fracture or a tonsillectomy and come out dead? We’ve named the killer. He does not stalk the halls unknown and shrouded in mystery. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) comes to us mostly courtesy of lazy pediatricians and demanding parents. “Give the kid an antibiotic,” the siren-call of overuse that lead to the Darwinian development of drug-resistant strains. In the sixty years since penicillin and other ‘cillins’ commonly used against infection, various bacteria were busy counting the dead and restructuring the survivors. If that sounds like a battle-plan, it’s not too much of a stretch.

MRSA: The victims strike back

Link: MRSA: The victims strike back | the Daily Mail.

Keith Hall bristled with anger as he came face to face with two burly security guards at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex. Brandishing a filthy cleaning mop and cloth, he stood firm - he'd done nothing wrong. The hospital was covered in dirt and dust - a breeding ground for the deadly virus MRSA - and all he wanted to do was clean up. With Britain currently suffering a hospital hygiene crisis - earlier this year official figures revealed that the death rate from the superbug MRSA had risen 39 per cent in one year - the enthusiasm of this hospital worker was, perhaps, a little unusual. After all, cleaners are often accused of being lackadaisical. In fact, 60-year-old Keith was no ordinary cleaner. A middle-class proprietor of an animal hospital in Norfolk, he lost his wife to MRSA four years ago and was taking part in a BBC2 documentary investigating the state of hygiene in Britain's hospitals.

MRSA Survivors Network

Link: VOICE OF THE PEOPLE (Letters) | Chicago Tribune.

Once I recovered, I resolved to learn as much as possible about the infection. There is a group located in the Chicago area called MRSA Survivors Network, which is administered by Jeanine Thomas, who has also survived a much more advanced state of the infection. This organization has proven to be a highly valuable repository of information to be utilized both as a resource for MRSA survivors seeking to educate themselves as to what can be done to cope with their health issues, and as a vehicle for enlightening the general public as to the gravity of the MRSA infection. Thomas has done an admirable service to the community in helping to bring the MRSA issue to the attention of the Illinois General Assembly, the state's medical community and to the public at large.

Pressure group want figures made public

Link: Highland Radio

     The recently formed Donegal branch of the pressure group "MRSA and Families" is presenting local politicians with a document calling for the threat of MRSA to be tackled The group is also calling for the extent of the infection to be made public. Copies of the document have also been circulated to Health Minister Mary Harney and all TDs in the Dail. Donegal spokesperson Rosemary Cassidy says that over the past ten years, two sets of national guidelines have been published, but never implemented.

Health campaign group slams Norwich infection action

Link: Evening News 24

    A man whose wife died from a killer hospital bug today branded conditions at the N&N an “insult” after carrying out an undercover inspection. Keith Hall, who set up a Norwich branch of MRSA Support after his wife Anne died in 2003, said the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital was no cleaner now than it was when she contracted the bug there. He and another member of the support group went to the hospital and checked rooms, toilets, corridors and other public parts of the £229 million PFI hospital at Colney. His claims come as it emerged more than 2,500 nurses are being forced to share just 65 changing rooms at the hospital - the equivalent of 40 nurses or midwives sharing one changing room.