A year or so ago he said, "Well, I just saw my first Clindamycin resistant MRSA. (It was just a matter of time.)"
As for hospitals being a vector, yup, there's no doubt about it, but then so are NFL locker rooms:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/352/5/468And so is the beach!
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2009/20090213_antibiotic.html …
Staph: A Beach Going Concern
Research, funded by multiple agencies and conducted by the University of Miami's Rosenstiel's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences and the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, found that swimmers using public ocean beaches increase their risk for exposure to staph organisms, and they may increase their risk for potential staph infections once they enter the water.
"Our study found that if you swim in subtropical marine waters, you have a significant chance, approximately 37 percent, of being exposed to staph — either yours or possibly that from someone else in the water with you," explained Dr. Lisa Plano, a pediatrician and microbiologist with the Miller School of Medicine. Plano collaborated in the first large epidemiologic survey of beach users in recreational marine waters without a sewage source of pollution. "This exposure might lead to colonization or infection by water-borne bacteria which are shed from every person who enters the water. People who have open wounds or are immune-compromised are at greatest risk of infection."
The Miami research team does not advise avoiding beaches, but recommends that beach-goers take precautions to reduce risk by showering thoroughly before entering the water and after getting out. They also point out that while antibiotic resistant staph, commonly known as MRSA, has been increasingly found in diverse environments, including the marine environment, less than three percent of staph isolated from beach waters in their study was of the potentially virulent MRSA variety. More research is needed to understand how long staph (including MRSA) can live in coastal waters, and human uptake and infection rates associated with beach exposures.
…Last Summer, I went swimming with a horsefly bite. I got a staph infection!