Is MRSA really more common in schools? Probably not, since schools are the only folks who report MRSA infections or who are really try to "do something about it," using the parlance of a widespread public panic. Senator Schumer wants to start reporting MRSA. I hope he appreciates the cost of culturing every skin lesion larger than a pimple on a teenager's backside. (I spend a fair amount of time complaining about the quality of Republican and conservative logic and rhetoric, but here we have a perfect example of hair-brained ideas from the other end of the political spectrum.)
Another example is of a politician in Philadelphia who is dedicated to raising awareness about MRSA. This makes me wonder about resistant strep which will kill many more people if it gets loose. How about VRE, anybody? Maybe we should raise money for research the way we do for highways: “This bacterium adopted by the Rotary Club of Poughkeepsie.” You’d think that someone running for Philadelphia city council would be a little more concerned that murder could be a leading cause of death in certain sub-populations in parts of the city.
Although the NYT published an article that compared the risk of MRSA to other rare events (TOH, Kevin, MD) and people with the authority of Dr. RW, medpundit, Dr. Anonymous and the CDC keep offering updates the panic apparently continues, fanned by political rhetoric. (Yes, I have also previously written something on MRSA, but far be it for me to draw undue attention to myself...)
I don't know, maybe it's about the lawsuits. Maybe it's about TV ratings? All I know is that it is not about how many people are dying from MRSA. Here is a report that most people who die from MRSA are sufficiently ill to be dying of other causes anyway.
What are we doing about MRSA? Exactly what we should be. Additional ideas are welcome as long as they are not coming from tabloids, bad TV news shows and irresponsible senators.
5 comments:
I too wrote about MRSA in my blog but it was mainly informational. MRSA is the disease of the month and it will fade as some new scare tactic is found. The next one might be diseases you get from animals (CDC mentioned that) or diseases you get from Imigrants. Scaring the public is the American Way.
Reporting and cleaning aren't going to solve this growing epidemic...
If these politicians really wanted a solution - they would focus on bringing cures like phage therapy to the US!
This article enraged me. I just lost my father becasue of HA MRSA pneumonia. He was in the hospital for 12 days to rehab from a minor ankle fracture. HIs hospital gave him a death sentence.
Your comment that most people who die of MRSA are dying of somthing else anyway is insensitive and inaccurate. You have the usual arrogant doctor attitude that "it happens and we just can't do anything about it"
MRSA is NO JOKE, ever.
Anonymous, as you correctly point out, MRSA is no joke, but the point of this post is that politicians were making it a joke with their laughable parading in front of the cameras in the hope of making the evening news.
In the year + since I wrote this post, hospitals have continued making improvements in infection control procedures. Serious and sober attempts to mitigate the risk take time. The fact that these infections are now in the community and not just a hospital problem is alarming. The underlying problem of general antibiotic overuse continues unabated and pressure from patients contribute, however indirectly.
The problem is large and complicated. I cannot comment on your father's specific situation, but I doubt any explanation would be satisfactory. I cannot imagine the intensity of your grief and anger. I cannot offer any meaning or purpose to an event that reminds me of the fragility of life and our lack of anticipating and controlling every potential outcome, even the bad ones.
I am sorry about your father and I hope you get some answers.
I hope it isn't too late to leave some remarks that you will still read.
It is crucial for me, a secondary lymphedema patient, to be on top of what is going around in the way of "superbugs." My lymphedema situation was caused by two traumatic injuries (left and right femurs), multiple (13) orthopedic surgeries including four bone grafts [needed because my hardware was placed incorrectly, causing the fracture sites to be pulled apart with every step = mechanically caused nonunions], adhesions, scarring, and whatever damage to lymph nodes and vessels all that surgery entailed.
The lymphedema covers both legs, hips, lower back, and abdomen. When my husband performs the daily massage necessary to process stagnant lymph, the fluid sometimes "backs up" to chest level before finally clearing at thoracic and axilla levels.
This means that for approx. two thirds of my body surface, any nick or damage to my skin (a bug bite, a scrape, a blister) leaves me vulnerable to sudden outbreaks of cellulitis, which can go from a small reddened spot to a size larger than my husband's large hand in the space of 12 hours. Lymphatic fluid is like delicious, nutritional protein soup for bacteria.
I have had MRSA already. It helped to know that's what it was. It used to be you had to be in a hospital to catch it. I got it from an apparently uncleansed surface of an ultrasound wand, used by my physical therapist in his outpatient office. [The infection sprang up in the exact same outline of the application of the ultrasound wand.]
The ER docs told me MRSA is an epidemic in emergency rooms all over Arizona.
If I weren't the type of patient to be extremely well-read and informed, or if I were the type of citizen without insurance and perhaps worried about paying for mortgage and utilities, I might have put off doing anything about it until it was too late -- I might have lost one or both legs, or it may have gone systemic, a frequent possibility for lymphedema sufferers.
It also doesn't help that, in general, American family practitioners (and orthopedic sugeons) are woefully undereducated about both primary and secondary lymphedema. Most doctors I've seen just toss prescriptions for lasix at me (precisely the WRONG thing) or tell me I can't have lymphedema because I'm not a cancer patient.
Knowing about MRSA was crucial for the emergency staff (able to prescribe the right antibiotics -- plural!!!) and for me (to ensure strict compliance, knowing the extraordinary costs of a casual attitude toward the infection).
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