Drug-Resistant Germ Spreading Outside U.S. Hospitals

[dArKeR]

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A drug-resistant "superbug" found in hospitals has a close cousin that is affecting athletes, prisoners and small children in growing numbers across the United States, disease experts said on Wednesday.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA can become fatal if not treated with the right antibiotics, said Dr. Daniel Jernigan of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites).

"MRSA is showing up in places it had never been seen before -- as a predominant cause of skin disease among children in some regions of the country, as clusters of abscesses among sports participants, as the most common cause of skin infections among inmates in some jails and among military recruits and rarely, as a severe and sometimes fatal lung or bloodstream infection in previously healthy people," Jernigan told reporters.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=571&ncid=571&e=2&u=/nm/20040714/hl_nm/health_staph_dc

Repukelicans have no time or money for this crap! Repukes bring America the Endless Cycle of Terrorism. Teach your children now because it's never going to end!

[Judi Lynn]

1. What do you want to bet they'll claim the germ seems to show up

a lot in any groups of demonstrators protesting the current administration?

Maybe there'll be a mysterious discovery of the germ on Democratic campaign buses and airplanes. I'd be predisposed to believe it!

[Fridays Child]

2. Captain Trips...

:scared:

[icymist]

3. We've been dealing with MRSA in the nursing homes for over....

a decade now. The number one thing you can do to keep from catching this germ is to stay in generally good health and good hand washing techniques. Keep your clothes clean and dry. Germs travel faster through wet clothing. If the germ gets airborne...that is if someone has it in their lungs, then isolation masks are in order. The masks usually are only good for up to two hours of use or if they get wet. The big thing about MRSA is that it is resistant to most types of penicillin. There are some antibiotics that are strong enough to knock this thing out.

I hope this helps ease some fears about this one.