Multidrug-Resistant Staph Found on Puget Sound Beaches

[Annces]

full article
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2009/2009-09-13-091.asp

SAN FRANCISCO, California, September 13, 2009 (ENS) - Samples of sand and water from five beaches around the Puget Sound have tested positive for a multidrug resistant form of the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus. This potentially fatal strain of staph is resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it.

Dr. Marilyn Roberts, a professor of environmental and health science at the University of Washington in Seattle, Firday reported the first isolation of Methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, from marine and beach sand samples taken from public beaches in Washington state.

Speaking at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Francisco, Dr. Roberts did not identify the individual beaches where the dangerous bacteria was found.

She said the MRSA bacteria was found in samples at four urban beaches and one rural beach about 10 miles apart around the Puget Sound.

"We found the same strain in three different beaches," said Roberts. "It's possible there was a common source. It could have been a hospital, could have been a person or people, but we don't really know where it came from or how three beaches got same strain," she told colleagues at the conference.

(I would have thought someone would close beaches if they had this. No warnings to swimmers. )

[frazzled]

1. Oh gee, thanks. We were just on a beach on Bainbridge Island

We weren't swimming, but still ...

[sentelle]

2. That explains my dog

And her vicious infection from being in the waters around Manitou Beach.
No more walking down there anymore.

[Warpy]

3. That bug is all around us

thanks to cost cutting hospitals not giving nurses shoe coverings to use in rooms where people have MRSA. Of course we tracked it into the environment, we had no choice. Once it was tracked outside the hospital, it spread.

The good news is that it's only a problem if you've got an open sore on your foot when you're walking around on those beaches.

If you do get MRSA, thank a bean counter.

[tavalon]

5. As you know, it got tracked all over every hospital before it got tracked out the doors

Really, I've always thought it a strange idea to take everyone who has an infection and stuff them into a little box together. I'm always amused when people think hospitals are clean places. Not to say we don't try to keep them clean, but we keep putting sick people in them.

I certainly am a cynical bastidge, ain't I? That's what 20 years in the healthcare trenches will get you.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. Oh yeah, it’s everywhere

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-02/uomr-sap021209.php

Public release date: 13-Feb-2009

Contact: Barbra Gonzalez
[e-mail]
305-421-4704
http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/">University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science

Swimmers at public beaches show increased risk of exposure to contagious staph bacteria

University of Miami along with Florida Department of Health, CDC and EPA jointly fund epidemiologic study of sub-tropical ocean beaches

Research, funded by multiple agencies and conducted by the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, found that swimmers using public ocean beaches increase their risk for exposure to staph organisms, and 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 near you," explained Dr. Lisa Plano, associate professor of pediatrics and microbiology and immunology at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, who collaborated in the study, the first large epidemiologic survey of its kind.

"This exposure might lead to staph infection since people colonized with the bacteria carry it into the water with them. Those with open wounds or who are immune compromised are at greatest risk of infection." The good news: results show the potentially virulent variety of antibiotic resistant staph, commonly known as MRSA, makes up less than three per cent of staph from the beach waters sampled during the study.

While people shouldn't avoid beaches, the research team recommends taking precautions to reduce the risk of infection by showering thoroughly before entering the water and after getting out. More research is needed to understand how long staph (including MRSA) can live in coastal waters, and the uptake and infection rate associated with the beach exposures.

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The study was funded through the NSF/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Oceans and Human Health (OHH) Center at the University of Miami, the NSF/Small Grants for Exploratory Research, the Florida Department of Health and Environmental Protection, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency. As one of the four OHH Centers in the World, the Oceans and Human Health Center at the University of Miami brings together medical and ocean researchers to investigate how humans affect oceans and how oceans affect humans in tropical and subtropical environments.