News > Geek > Flesh Eating Drug Resistant Bug Reaches Alarming levels

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SATURDAY APRIL 9 2005 1:00 PM

Flesh Eating Drug Resistant Bug Reaches Alarming levels

Submitted by dem_z

Edited by Shal

Flesh eating methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MSRA) infections have been seen outside hospitals in America. US doctors are warning people about the alarming rise in the rate of infection.

The infections in the US community have typically manifested as skin infections, such as pimples and boils, in otherwise healthy people.

Although none of the 14 patients died, they had serious complications, including the need for reconstructive surgery and prolonged stay in the intensive care unit.

The CDC has been investigating clusters of the community-acquired MRSA skin infections among athletes, military recruits and prisoners.

A common theme associated with the spread of these MRSA skin infections appears to be close skin-to-skin contact, openings in the skin such as cuts or abrasions, contaminated items and surfaces, crowded living conditions and poor hygiene.

This sounds like every student accomodation that I've ever seen. The methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is not the same as the one rampaging through UK hospitals.

In the UK, there have been some cases of MRSA in the community, but experts say these are different to the cases arising in the US.

Dr Jodi Lindsay, lecturer in infectious diseases at St George's hospital, said although no cases had been reported in the UK yet, it was a concern.

"We are worried these community-acquired MRSAs might come over here from the US," she said.

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Comments

traceelement

Australia

March 2005

APR 11, 2005 12:42 AM

hahah by australian media you mean those scare mongers from ACA and Today Tonight, real respectable journalism that stuff.

Although I must admit all reports I have seen here regarding flesh eating bacteria have been about Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or as commonly named by the media Golden Staph.

ummm then there are the other reports and specials we get just before the onset of winter or during it (pretty much as an awareness campaign) about Meningococcus.

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

APR 11, 2005 12:46 AM

Rabidnid said:

bean Um. No, it doesn't. Meningococcus bacteria is not a "flesh eating bug," and nobody other than you has claimed that anything mentioned thus far can "kill you in a day." This is the sort of rampant disregard for getting the facts straight that really annoys me to no end about this sort of story.

Meningococcus is certainly a killer in Australia to the point where they are starting to imunise against is in schools, though there is debate over the untility of that because of the diferent strains of it going around. It may not be a flesh eating virus but what was left of that girl after the amputations and surgery makes the point moot.

No, the point isn't moot, because the point was that it wasn't the same thing. Notice that I've never debated the danger posed by meningococcus. I'm not arguing that point. But that wasn't the point in the first place. One of my friends was nearly killed by spinal meningitis when we were 13. I'm intimately aware of what it can do.

You have got me interested though because a "flesh eating bug" has been doing the rounds in the media for about a decade now, though at least half of those reoprts were of meningococcus, the others are much more similar to the thing being described here, with large scale removal of surface tissue and the use of antibiotics (at least in the cases that made it into the media).

Perhaps, rather than listening to vague media reports which may or may not (and frequently do not) get the facts right, you may want to read the fact sheets about this infection, which I linked to several posts back on this page.

Here is a description of necrotizing fasciitis, which is commonly referred to as "flesh eating bacteria." It is very rare, and is caused most frequently by Streptococcus pyrogenes, not by MRSA or C-MRSA, the latter of which being the bacterium the story that prompted this thread refers to. Though, if traceelement is correct, I'd be curious about why MRSA is the culprit in those stories in your neck of the woods. Maybe it's just that the MRSA caused ones are the ones that make the news, because of the drug resistance.

[Edited on Apr 11, 2005 by bean]

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

APR 11, 2005 12:51 AM

metalslut said:
and i was worried about increasing gas prices.

I think that's probably still a bigger concern.

dem_z

United Kingdom

June 2004

APR 11, 2005 12:58 AM

bean said:

demetrius_z said:

bean said:
For all you people freaking out about this, here's a good fact sheet about community-acquired MRSA. Here's another one from the CDC.

The majority of cases involve infected skin lesions, and in some cases, treatment requires hospitalization. It can be treated with antibiotics, and in some cases, simply by draining the skin abscess.

How can I go around spreading panic and mayhem if you keep giving people _information_

The MR bit of MRSA means that some antimicrobials do not work, and the list if getting smaller.

Bullshit.

The MR bit of MRSA means it's resistant to methicillin. The problem with that is that methicillin is one of the more widely-used antibiotics, and it's not that it "does not work," it's that it is resistant. It can still be treated with antibiotics.

"one"?
The link that _you_ provided says "MRSA is a type of staph that is resistant to antibiotics called beta-lactams. Beta-lactam antibiotics include methicillin and other more common antibiotics such as oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin". How is it bullshit to say that the list of anti-microbials that are effective against MRSA is getting smaller, if the list of anti-microbials effective against MRSA _is_ getting smaller?

report

The infecting strain of MRSA was often (73 percent) resistant to prescribed antimicrobial agents. Among patients with skin or soft-tissue infections, therapy to which the infecting strain was resistant did not appear to be associated with adverse patient-reported outcomes. Overall, 23 percent of patients were hospitalized for the MRSA infection.

Conclusions Community-associated MRSA infections are now a common and serious problem. These infections usually involve the skin, especially among children, and hospitalization is common.

(Bold added)
'most' cases (nearly 3/4) are resistant to prescribed anti microbials, almost 1/4 end up in hospital, and these doctors seem to think that CA-MRSA is a "common and serious" problem.

Also, You might like to try decaf.

[Edited on Apr 11, 2005 by demetrius_z]