Friday is World MRSA Day. MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is nasty business. In 2006, the last year that MRSA cases were reported in Utah, there were 4,904 reported cases of MRSA in the state which made it the second most reportable communicable disease at the time.
MRSA information on the web abounds and it is generally accepted that there are two primary types:
Most MRSA infections occur in hospitals or other health care settings, such as nursing homes and dialysis centers. It’s known as health care-associated MRSA, or HA-MRSA. Older adults and people with weakened immune systems are at most risk of HA-MRSA. More recently, another type of MRSA has occurred among otherwise healthy people in the wider community. This form, community-associated MRSA, or CA-MRSA, is responsible for serious skin and soft tissue infections and for a serious form of pneumonia. MRSA- an acronym for methicillin-resistant staph aureus is a type of bacterium often found on the skin and in the nose of healthy children and adults. Approximately 10% of the population is colonized with MRSA. MRSA can cause serious infections in wounds, the bloodstream an pneumonia.
And the causes are well documented:
MRSA is a strain of staph that’s resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it.
Staph infections
Staph bacteria are normally found on the skin or in the nose of about one-third of the population. If you have staph on your skin or in your nose but aren’t sick, you are said to be "colonized" but not infected. Healthy people can be colonized and have no ill effects. However, they can pass the germ to others.
Staph bacteria are generally harmless unless they enter the body through a cut or other wound, and even then they often cause only minor skin problems in healthy people. However, staph infections can cause serious illness. This most often happens in older adults and people who have weakened immune systems, usually in hospitals and long term care facilities. But in the past several years, serious infections have been occurring in otherwise healthy people in the community, for example athletes who share equipment or personal items.
Antibiotic resistance
Although the survival tactics of bacteria contribute to antibiotic resistance, humans bear most of the responsibility for the problem. Leading causes of antibiotic resistance include:
As are the risk factors:
Because hospital and community strains of MRSA generally occur in different settings, the risk factors for the two strains differ.
Risk factors for community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA)
In addition to these risk factors, CA-MRSA is also spreading through certain groups of gay men. A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found a new strain of MRSA spreading rapidly among gay men in Boston and San Francisco. For example, gay men in San Francisco were 13 times more likely to be infected than others in the city.
Risk factors for health care-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA)
And the treatments:
Both hospital- and community-associated strains of MRSA still respond to certain medications. In hospitals and care facilities, doctors often rely on the antibiotic vancomycin to treat resistant germs. CA-MRSA may be treated with vancomycin or other antibiotics that have proved effective against particular strains. Although vancomycin saves lives, it may become less effective as well. Some hospitals are already seeing strains of MRSA that are less easily killed by vancomycin.
In some cases, antibiotics may not be necessary. For example, doctors may drain a superficial abscess caused by MRSA rather than treat the infection with drugs.
On Friday, there will be a candlelight remembrance on the south steps of the Utah Capitol on behalf of survivors and their loved ones as a way to encourage patients and health care professionals to be aware of the risks and to focus on prevention:
Hospitals are fighting back against MRSA infection by using surveillance systems that track bacterial outbreaks and by investigating products such as antibiotic-coated catheters and gloves that release disinfectants.
Still, the best way to prevent the spread of germs is for health care workers to wash their hands frequently, to properly disinfect hospital surfaces and to take other precautions, such as wearing gowns and gloves when working with people infected with resistant bacteria.
In the hospital, people who are infected or colonized with MRSA are placed in isolation to prevent the spread of MRSA. Visitors and health care workers caring for people in isolation may be required to wear protective garments and must follow strict hand-washing procedures.
What you can do in the hospital
Here’s what you can do to protect yourself, family members or friends from health care-associated infections.
What you can do in your community
Protecting yourself from MRSA in your community — which might be just about anywhere — may seem daunting, but these common-sense precautions can help reduce your risk:
