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MRSA bacteria called a worse health threat than SARS or bird flu

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  • MRSA bacteria called a worse health threat than SARS or bird flu

    NewsTarget) Infectious disease experts from across the United States recently suggested that MRSA -- an antibiotic-resistant infection often acquired in hospital settings -- is a more immediate threat to public health than bird flu or SARS.
    A study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed MRSA (methicillin-resistant Syaphylococcus aureus) to be the most common cause of skin infection in adults in 11 emergency rooms examined. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that MRSA causes 90,000 serious infections a year, resulting in 17,000 deaths.
    Many hospitals across the country have responded with programs to test patients for MRSA in hopes of stopping the problem. For example, last week Veterans Affairs Hospital began testing everyone for the bacteria when they are admitted and discharged. Other hospitals have started more limited testing, restricting the tests to high-risk patients and isolating infected patients.
    MRSA has appeared in hospitals since the 1960s, and in the 1990s the bacteria began appearing in athletes, prisoners, military personnel and intravenous drug users outside hospitals. Experts found that a new form of MRSA was being spread by sharing razors and towels, touching contaminated surfaces such as gym machines and being in close contact with infected people. The infection causes skin lesion such as pimples or boils that are frequently misdiagnosed as spider bites.
    To motivate more states to take action to prevent MRSA infections, 13 states have started to require public reporting of hospital-acquired infections. Currently 17 other states have similar legislation pending.
    Experts say MRSA infections should be reported on a national level to help focus prevention efforts. "We're counting cases of chicken pox and measles, for which there are vaccines," says Dr. William Jarvis, an infection control consultant. "We should be counting MRSA." http://www.newstarget.com/020064.html

  • #2
    Re: MRSA bacteria called a worse health threat than SARS or bird flu

    Today, the city of Montreal close all public swimming pools on the island up to next year. They have found an unprededent levels of MRSA and E-coli in the water, despite the chlore.

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    • #3
      Re: MRSA bacteria called a worse health threat than SARS or bird flu

      Secrets of success of a human pathogen: molecular evolution of pandemic clones of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

      http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9024

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      • #4
        Re: MRSA bacteria called a worse health threat than SARS or bird flu

        Snowy Owl, do you feel the chlorine was not at optimum levels, or can MRSA live effectively in chlorinated water?

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        • #5
          Re: MRSA bacteria called a worse health threat than SARS or bird flu

          From what I have learn, (more today, I will have specs) the level of chlorine use was done by the books, that is in conformity with regulations.

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          • #6
            Re: MRSA bacteria called a worse health threat than SARS or bird flu

            That's not a very comforting thought. Thanks Snowy.

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            • #7
              Re: MRSA bacteria called a worse health threat than SARS or bird flu

              Here is some news, more to come

              New Approach Assesses Risk of Water-Borne Pathogen Disease

              <table class="border" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="1" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="50%">Libraries
              Medical News</td><td width="25"> </td><td valign="top">Keywords
              LEPTOSPIROSIS, WATER-BORNE BACTERIAL DISEASE, RISK ASSESSMENT </td></tr><tr><td colspan="3" valign="top">Contact Information
              Available for logged-in reporters only</td></tr><tr><td colspan="3" valign="top">Description
              UCSD School of Medicine, along with colleagues at the University Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru, have developed a novel approach for assessing the risk to humans of acquiring leptospirosis – a severe, water-borne disease that is the common cause of severe jaundice, renal failure and lung hemorrhage in urban areas throughout the developing world – from environmental water exposure.</td></tr></tbody></table>
              Newswise — Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, along with colleagues at the University Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru, have developed a novel approach for assessing the risk to humans of acquiring leptospirosis – a severe, water-borne disease that is the common cause of severe jaundice, renal failure and lung hemorrhage in urban areas throughout the developing world – from environmental water exposure.
              The approach, which uses advanced molecular methods to measure risk for infection, may also be applicable to other water-borne bacterial diseases. The findings will be published on line August 21 in advance of the September issue of the journal Public Library of Science (PLoS) Medicine.

              “What we found supported our hypothesis that severe leptospirosis in the Peruvian Amazon is associated with higher concentrations of more virulent forms of the bacteria at sites of exposure and transmission,” said Joseph Vinetz, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine in UCSD’s Division of Infectious Diseases.

              This approach to risk assessment of environmental surface waters is globally applicable, and can connect the presence of water-borne pathogens to the risk of mild versus severe human disease, according to the researchers. Scientists will be able to determine if a sample of water contains Leptospira, as well as quantify how many of the bacteria are present. More densely contaminated water sources would be more likely to cause human disease than water with a lower concentration of Leptospira.

              “This can have direct policy implications for health departments in monitoring the safety of water for bathing, cleaning and swimming – all ways that diseases are spread, not just by drinking contaminated water,” Vinetz said, adding that the next step is to intervene and clean up the water sources, and assess the impact of cleanup on the incidence rate of human leptospirosis.

              The researchers successfully used a powerful molecular technology called polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to measure and compare levels of Leptospira in environmental surface waters at urban and rural sites in the Peruvian Amazon region of Iquitos. Leptospirosis, caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira, is the most common disease in the world transmitted from animals to humans.

              Annually, tens of millions of human cases of leptospirosis occur worldwide, and fatality rates can range as high as twenty to twenty-five percent in some regions. It occurs in both industrialized and developing countries, but is particularly prevalent in tropical countries where poor people live under highly crowded conditions, or in rural areas where people are exposed to water contaminated by the urine of Leptospira-infected mammals such as livestock or rats. Transmission also appears to coincide with warm weather and the occurrence of flooding, which washes soil contaminated with animal urine into water sources such as wells and streams.

              Recent outbreaks worldwide among adventure athletes, military personnel and travelers highlight the risk for acquiring leptospirosis in tropical environments. Noted risk factors include the use of well or stream water, minding livestock, walking barefoot and the presence of rats and cats in the home.

              Previous data from the Peruvian Amazon region indicated that the overall incidence of human leptospirosis was similar in urban and rural sites. However, the severe form of the disease had only been observed in urban areas. Vinetz and his research team tested two hypotheses: first, that concentration of more virulent Leptospira would be higher in urban than in rural environmental surface waters; and that the concentration and species of disease-causing Leptospira in the water would be associated with both the risk of acquiring the disease and its severity.

              Standard lab culture-based methods of identifying Leptospira in water and soil sources are time-consuming, laborious, and usually unable to identify pathogenic Leptospira at all. To overcome these limitations, the scientists analyzed relatively small quantities of surface water – for instance water from gutters, wells, puddles and streams – using quantitative real-time PCR assays that amplify small amounts of DNA. By measuring DNA, the researchers were able to effectively describe and quantify the amount of pathogenic bacteria present in the water samples.

              The scientists then were able to connect the molecular identification of the bacterial pathogens in the water samples to those actually infecting people and causing acute leptospirosis in rural and urban areas. This approach allowed for a precise mechanistic connection between source of infection and human disease, allowing the researchers to measure the environmental risk for bacterial infection – an approach never used before.

              “This study is important because we have connected clinical and basic science to provide a quantitative risk assessment for water-borne diseases,” said Vinetz. “This method of risk assessment for infection may also be applicable to other water-borne diseases such as those caused by Shigella, Salmonella, Cryptosporidium, and E. coli.”

              Additional contributors to the paper include first author Christian A. Ganoza, Eddy R. Segura and Eduardo Gotuzzo, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru; Michael A. Matthias, Devon Collins-Richards and Calaveras B. Cunningham, UCSD Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine; Kimberly C. Brouwer, UCSD Division of International Health and Cross-Cultural Medicine; and Robert H. Gilman, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

              This work was supported by research and training grants from the Fogarty International Center and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the United States National Institutes of Health.

              http://www.newswise.com

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              • #8
                Re: MRSA bacteria called a worse health threat than SARS or bird flu

                This is great info Snowy! Thanks for taking the time.

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                • #9
                  Re: MRSA bacteria called a worse health threat than SARS or bird flu

                  The CDC have a section on water bourne disease and swimming pools etc http://www.cdc.gov/healthyswimming/what.htm .

                  What are recreational water illnesses (RWIs)?

                  RWIs are illnesses that are spread by swallowing, breathing, or having contact with contaminated water from swimming pools, spas, lakes, rivers, or oceans. Recreational water illnesses can cause a wide variety of symptoms, including gastrointestinal, skin, ear, respiratory, eye, neurologic and wound infections. The most commonly reported RWI is diarrhea. Diarrheal illnesses can be caused by germs such as Crypto, short for Cryptosporidium, Giardia, Shigella, Norovirus, and E. coli O157:H7.


                  They also have a page on Chlorine in swimming pools http://www.cdc.gov/healthyswimming/why.htm .

                  Why doesn't chlorine kill these RWI germs?

                  Chlorine in swimming pools does kill the germs that may make people sick, but it takes time. Chlorine in properly disinfected pools kills most germs that can cause RWIs in less than an hour. Chlorine takes longer to kill some germs such as Crypto (short for Cryptosporidium), which can survive for days in even a properly disinfected pool. This means that without your help, recreational water illnesses can be spread even in well-maintained pools.

                  Healthy swimming behaviors are needed to protect you and your family from RWIs and will help stop germs from getting in the pool.

                  The CDC also have a page on how to prevent waterborne infection in pools etc. http://www.cdc.gov/healthyswimming/prevent.htm

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