Staph Fatalities May Exceed AIDS Deaths

[TZ]

CHICAGO (AP) - More than 90,000 Americans get potentially deadly infections each year from a drug-resistant staph "superbug," the government reported in its first overall estimate of invasive disease caused by the germ.

Deaths tied to these infections may exceed those caused by AIDS, said one public health expert commenting on the new study. Tuesdays report shows just how far one form of the staph germ has spread beyond its traditional hospital setting.

The overall incidence rate was about 32 invasive infections per 100,000 people. That's an "astounding" figure, said an editorial in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, which published the study.

Most drug-resistant staph cases are mild skin infections. But this study focused on invasive infections _ those that enter the bloodstream or destroy flesh and can turn deadly.

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=106&sid=1269718

Lesson from this? 1) Avoid taking anti-biotics if at all possible, and never take anti-biotics for viral infections or flu!
2)If you are on anti-biotics take all your meds even if you feel better!
3) Wash your hands frequently! And for those in gyms/playing sports make sure the exercise equipment is cleaned often....

[rateyes]

1. I know a woman who had had several operations,

ended up with an internal pain pump, rods in her back, a pic line, and a pacemaker. She developed a staph infection in January of this year, and was hospitalized. She ended up being hospitalized all but 4 days from January to the middle of June. They began removing the parts she had implanted, one at a time. (BTW, she was SEPTIC the whole time...she was being kept alive by blood transfusions, vancomyocin (sp.?), etc. The last thing they had to remove were the pacemaker leads to her heart, where they found the source of the infection. The infection destroyed the joints in her hips, and she now needs two hip replacement surgeries, because she can't walk.

I didn't think she would live 24 hours when she first went into ICU...I still don't know why she's alive today, but she is.

At any rate, everybody, MRSA is some serious shit. It kills nearly 1 out of 5 who are infected. It's hard to contract...usually, I understand, through cuts in the skin (it's found everywhere.) KEEP YOUR HANDS WASHED, and if you're visiting someone in the hospital, wash your hands before you visit, and wash them after you visit. And, don't just rely on those hand sanitizer products. Wash your hands. Wash your hands. WASH.YOUR.HANDS. Warm water and anti-bacterial soap, and for at least a good 30 seconds...and get under those fingernails.

I've known others with this infection. It ain't pretty.

[EST]

2. As a mrsa survivor, I can echo these sentiments.

One point only touched on in this article is a prime path for these infections: noses.
Keep your hands away from your nose! As the primary filter of all the air you breathe, the mucous in your nose is positively teeming with all sorts of groty little critters, millions of pieces of dead critters and dirt of all varieties.

One other point is about bathing. When showering, it is important to get the whole body soaped up and clean. That includes feet and legs, particularly, as feet and legs generally tend to have poorer circulation than other parts of the body and are more likely to have large areas of surface infection. Keep yourself clean and avoid hand-to-face actions.