Killer germ set to 'emerge in force' (Canada)

[AlaskaDenise]

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=08768798-0fd5-438e-b363-b60463eb18f6&k=24717

Calgary doctor says superbug spreading in Canada

Sharon Kirkey, CanWest News Service

Published: Tuesday, January 02, 2007

A superbug that causes infections from large, boil-like lesions to hemorrhagic pneumonia and, in rare cases, flesh-eating disease is poised to "emerge in force" across Canada, a new report warns.

While the prospect of a flu pandemic has governments scrambling to develop emergency plans, an epidemic of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or CA-MRSA, is raging in the U.S. and beginning to entrench itself here, infectious disease experts report today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

In the U.S., clusters have been reported in groups from NFL players to toddlers in day care.

In Canada, outbreaks have occurred in Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. The Calgary Health Region sees between 40 and 70 cases per month. Infections are also being reported in Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City.

Doctors are now investigating the possible transmission of the community-acquired staph strain among a small group of Calgary hospital patients, which would be one of the first cases of CA-MRSA being transmitted between hospital patients.

"Not a day goes by where I'm in clinic that I'm not pulling out a scalpel to drain one of these things," says Dr. John Conly, co-author of the report and an infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine at the University of Calgary.

"We're seeing far too many of them."

The organism is an "old foe with new fangs," a pathogen that is virulent, drug-resistant and has an uncanny ability to "disseminate at large," according to the CMAJ report. So far, its prevalence is thought to be low, but rising in most parts of the country.

"Front-line physicians need to be aware of the increasing prevalence and the potential severity of CA-MRSA infection," the researchers write.

The germ killed a healthy 30-year-old Calgary man and a three-month-old baby in Toronto in 2005. Both died of necrotizing pneumonia, or lung abscesses.

The infection begins with what looks like a spider bite, a red, very tender area that rises up and comes to a head just like a small boil. If not treated promptly, the lesions can develop into large, spreading abscesses in the soft tissues that can grow to the size of a baseball "or even a grapefruit in some settings," Conly said in an interview.

People develop fever and flu-like symptoms. In some cases, MRSA can cause bleeding in the lungs. "For some reason, there are people who are predisposed to develop what looks like standard pneumonia and very quickly they begin to cough up blood," Conly said.

Previously confined to hospital patients, the staph infection is now occurring in healthy people. The community strain "doesn't carry as much genetic baggage" as the hospital strain and is sensitive to other antibiotics, Conly says.

"But it seems to have a propensity to cause very large abscesses in the soft tissues with copious drainage, and seems to spread much more readily than the hospital strain has done."

It's also moving out of the traditional risk groups, such as intravenous drug users, the homeless, First Nations, the military and people infected with HIV.


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[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Killer germ set to 'emerge in force' (Canada)

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=18a8e5f4-e092-4fc4-b375-1bf886cecd1e

'Superbug' scare surfaces again; your best defence is washing your hands
<TABLE width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2>Vancouver Sun</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Wednesday, January 03, 2007


<!--begin story text-->Alarm bells sounded this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal about a "superbug at our doorstep" will have a familiar ring for British Columbians. We heard them here more than year ago in a report to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

The "superbug" in question is known as community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or CA-MRSA.

The only thing really new about this latest superbug is the CA part. MRSA has been the bane of hospitals for years. It's only in the past few years, however, that it has been showing up in the community at large.

The November 2005 report on the emergence of CA-MRSA to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control outlined the issues involved in monitoring and limiting its spread.

While this nasty bug is already well established, the measures we can take to keep it under control are initiatives we should already be taking to buck the spread of any disease, from superbugs to common colds.

MRSA is a bacterium that can cause infections. It gets called a superbug because it fights back -- it's resistant to Methicillin, the commonly used antibiotic treatment.

MRSA, like ordinary Staph aureus, can be responsible for skin infections, boils, impetigo and, less commonly but more dangerously, invasive lung and blood infections.

About 30 per cent of people carry the bacterium on their skin in one form or another.

The best way to protect yourself and others from MRSA infections is through simple cleanliness and hand washing, with a little soap and a lot of vigour.

Dr. John Blatherwick, Vancouver's medical health officer and long-time public health crusader, emphasizes that the friction from giving your hands a good rub is more important than the soap in shedding unwanted bacteria.
Note that anti-bacterial soap is not recommended. Studies show it has no advantage over regular soap and it contributes to the problem that led to the emergence of superbugs, the overuse of antibiotics.

Frequent hand-washing is also the first line of defence against common influenza or other more exotic invaders we fear may end up here, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or bird flu.

So the bottom line for ordinary people is that the latest "superbug" is a concern, but nothing to lose sleep over as long as we practise good hygiene. As always, watch for infection in the event of a scrape or cut and seek medical attention if in any doubt. The provincial Nurseline -- 604 215-4700 in Greater Vancouver and toll free at 1-866-215-4700 elsewhere in the province -- is a good place to start.

For doctors and other health care providers, the emergence of CA-MRSA is a greater concern.

Last year, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control started a program to encourage doctors to prescribe antibiotics only when they are sure what they are dealing with is a bacterial infection and not something caused by a virus, such as a cold.

In the past, doctors have often given in to patient's demands for antibiotics even if they were not useful on the basis that even if they won't help, no harm will be done.

The harm, however, is environmental. The more bacteria are exposed to antibacterial drugs, the more likely it is that some will mutate into a resistant form such as MSRA.

Where bacterial infections are suspected, doctors are being urged to test to ensure the right medication is being prescribed.

Patients can help by asking their doctors if the antibiotic they are being given is really necessary.

And, don't forget to wash your hands.

ONLINE EXTRA.

For more information about the 'superbug,' visit: www.vancouversun.com

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<!--end story text-->

 

[Treyfish]

Re: Killer germ set to 'emerge in force' (Canada)

Dirty name tags add to risk of superbug deaths</HEADLINE>

<BYLINE>Kate Benson Medical Reporter</BYLINE>
<DATE>January 7, 2008</DATE>

<!--bylineDetails-->
<!--articleDetails--><SMALL $family="element"></SMALL>

<!--articleExtras-wrap--><BOD>FIRST it was ties, then it was stethoscopes and keyboards. Now, a study has found that deadly superbug bacteria are crawling all over identity badges and lanyards worn by doctors and nurses.
The study, published in The Medical Journal of Australia, found that the superbug methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, which kills more than 700 patients a year, lives on about 10 per cent of name tags and lanyards, sparking concerns hygiene procedures in hospitals are inadequate.
An analysis of 71 clinical and infection-control staff at Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne showed that 27 lanyards and 18 badges carried pathogenic bacteria, including seven with MRSA and 29 with methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, a more common but equally dangerous bug.Lanyards carried about 10 times the bacterial load of badges.
The author of the study, Rhonda Stuart, an infectious diseases physician, said yesterday the results had come as no surprise.
"Lanyards and identity badges are worn by both male and female clinical staff for long periods of time without cleaning ? and their position at waist level and their pendulous nature increase the risk that they will become contaminated," Dr Stuart said.
"We believe hand hygiene is the most important defence against these bugs so we did this study to remind people to not only disinfect their badges regularly, and replace the lanyards, but wash their hands after touching them."
She said bacteria could survive on fabrics and plastic surfaces for up to 90 days and that doctors' badges were four times more likely to carry bugs than those belonging to nurses, consistent with previous studies indicating doctors were less likely than nurses to continually wash their hands.
But the director of infectious diseases and microbiology at Canberra Hospital, Peter Collignon, said more studies on how MRSA was spread were pointless.
"We already know more than enough to control MRSA," he said. "The real issue ? is not the need for more information on environmental contamination, but the need to use the abundant information we already have to curtail the principal way that MRSA spreads - via the hands of health-care workers. If we use regular hand hygiene procedures with alcohol and disinfectant, we can reduce serious infections caused by MRSA."
Professor Collignon also advocated reduced overcrowding in emergency departments, a greater use of gowns and gloves for health workers and more single rooms in wards to isolate people carrying the bug. He said hospitals in Britain had recently introduced a "bare below the elbows" dress code, preventing staff from wearing watches, rings or long sleeves.
"We know what the problem is. What we appear to lack is an understanding of human behaviour and the political and medical will to really do something about it. We have been missing the big picture for too long."
MRSA usually infects open wounds and is extremely difficult to treat as it is resistant to most antibiotics, including penicillin, methicillin and cephalosporins. MRSA must be treated with the antibiotic of last resort, vancomycin, risking the development of another superbug, vancomycin-resistant enterococcus, or VRE.
About 1500 bloodstream infections a year in Australia are caused by MRSA.:tiphat: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national...superbug-deaths/2008/01/06/1199554485373.html
</BOD>

 

[tygerkittn]

Re: Killer germ set to 'emerge in force' (Canada)

My oldest son is OCD, he washes his hands all the time, once our water was off for a few hours to get a pipe fixed and I thought I was going to have to drive him to a gas station to wash his hands, and he had MRSA.
If his hand washing didn't prevent, I have to wonder if it will help anyone.
He also keeps alcohol wipes with him.