Schools and MRSA

[Hellrazor]

Ok everyone, who works for a school or has kids in a school where people are paranoid about the reports of MRSA?

Most people don't have a clue what it stands for or what it is. But they heard about it on the news and are going into panic mode.

Another day to thank the media for hyping something and causing people to become paranoid.

[gsmittle]

Ok everyone, who works for a school or has kids in a school where people are paranoid about the reports of MRSA?

Most people don't have a clue what it stands for or what it is. But they heard about it on the news and are going into panic mode.

Another day to thank the media for hyping something and causing people to become paranoid.

I caught the tail end of a report on NPR yesterday. Evidently it's some sort of staph infection. The little bit of the report I heard sounded like the outbreak is not as bad as the hysteria. One school has hired a custodian to do nothing but disinfect the public areas of the building, including the floors, twice a day.

g.

[Tom Slick]

I think it's the latest offering in the medical emergency of the month club. much like flu, sars, bird flu, shark attacks, alar on apples, etc.

the abuse of antibiotics is interesting. I thought it was common knowledge that nothing cures a virus, but I guess people demand to be given antibiotics for colds and flus? are they the same people overdosing their kids?

[ironhat]

I think it's the latest offering in the medical emergency of the month club. much like flu, sars, bird flu, shark attacks, alar on apples, etc.

the abuse of antibiotics is interesting. I thought it was common knowledge that nothing cures a virus, but I guess people demand to be given antibiotics for colds and flus? are they the same people overdosing their kids?

There ya go, Tom, it's the, 'Do *something* crowd and docs who won't say 'no' to indescriminate antibiotic use that go us to this point. This is a varety of staph which is resistant to antibiotics of any sort. Read that as *resistant*, not *untreatable*. The deal is to get to the bug early as possible. The stuff is bad Ju-ju for sure but I too wonder if it's as prevalent as Katie Couric and Meredith Viera make it out to be. We need some expert opinions from our resident docs on this one. Without them it's all just conjecture.

[Greg in Maryland]

Ok everyone, who works for a school or has kids in a school where people are paranoid about the reports of MRSA?

Most people don't have a clue what it stands for or what it is. But they heard about it on the news and are going into panic mode.

Another day to thank the media for hyping something and causing people to become paranoid.

The Centers for Disease Control has excellent resources for getting educated about MRSA: http://www.cdc.gov/Features/MRSAinSchools/ or http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mr...revention.html or http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa_prevention.html so you do not need to rely on the media for information.

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, nearly 20,000 people died last year of invasive staph infections in hospitals (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/a...A_JAMA2007.pdf). Every single one of these deaths was preventable.

A dear friend of mine spent months recovering from a staph infection he got at my local hospital. All he had done was arthroscopic knee surgery -- a relatively minor proceedure.

On Monday in Northern Virginia, a student died a staph infection and in the greater Washington, DC area 55 students have been or are being treated for a staph infection.

If you have been impacted by a staph infection, the medial attention is appropriate. If you have never been impacted by a staph the media attention is all hype.

For me, staph infections are a major concern when going to a hospital.

Greg

[Hellrazor]

Greg,

You hit the nail on the head. Most people are listening to the media hype, becoming media educated experts on the subject and don't know squat.


We attended a MRSA conference the last week of September. A lot of the people were interested in the topic, didn't think it would ever become a huge event and now this whole media frenzy developed.

Most people do not even know the difference between MRSA and CA-MRSA either.

[MilDoc]

Well don't panic yet folks. What the news media is talking about is CA-MRSA (ie, community acquired methicillin resistant Staph aureus). It's the "community acquired" part that is indeed very troubling. MRSA used to be confined to hospitals. Now CA-MRSA is everywhere. In the past year I've had to open and drain at least 2-3 skin abscesses a week, as has LOML (used to be 5-6 per year). It hits all ages. And it hits schools hard because of lousy kid hygiene, close contact, etc.

CA-MRSA is a different bug than hospital acquired MRSA and can be fatal very fast. Has to do with it's genetic makeup.

But it is curable in most areas with simple antibiotics (here Bactrim gets it, not everywhere though). But you do have to get it treated soon. Actually, antibiotics aren't even need for small abscesses, just open and drain.

And no, most people have no idea what a "virus" is. What they "know" is they have an "infection and that needs antibiotics. Believe me, I "just say NO" many times a day, but a lot of docs just give in.

If you have a cold, or the flu, or any viral infection you do not need an antibiotic. And if you insist on one than you are contributing to the problem of resistance.