Infectious Superbug Invades Beaches

[n2doc]

Health
Infectious Superbug Invades Beaches
By Robin Lloyd, Senior Editor
posted: 13 February 2009 04:36 pm ET

CHICAGO — Add the MRSA "superbug" to the list of concerns you bring to the beach nowadays, a research doctor said today.

It's still safe to go in the water, especially if you shower thoroughly before and after swimming, but antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a strain of bacteria that can cause staph infections that are difficult to treat with traditional anti-infection drugs such as methicillin, can be caught when you take a dip in ocean water, said Dr. Lisa Plano of the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine.

MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or multiple-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. It has become a deadly and growing problem in hospitals in recent years.

"MRSA is in the water and potentially in the sand," Plano told a group of reporters today at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "This constitutes a risk to anyone who goes to the beach and uses the water ... Most of us won't get infected but it only takes one infected person to spread ."

So-called staph or Staphylococcus aureus, the kind that responds to antibiotics, is not a big deal typically out in the general public. About a third of us has it living in the nose or on the skin all the time, and we don't get sick from the bug. But for babies, the elderly and other people with compromised immune systems, staph can lead to an infection that can be deadly.

And in any population, when people catch the antibiotic-resistant strain (MRSA), doctors struggle to find a way to kill the infection.

more::
http://www.livescience.com/health/090213-beach-superbugs-mrsa.html

[babylonsister]

1. Would that be staph?

No one seemed too concerned earlier. Not much we can do about it, but I love beaches, so I'm bummed at the thought.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5054242&mesg_id=5054242

[tabatha]

2. That article is very informative. Thanks.

[xchrom]

3. plain old ordinary staph killed my partner many years ago.

that was horrifying -- i'm sure this is worse.