MRSA Resources

By Christina Jones,

Bryan / College Station, Texas

September 20, 2005

 

I am not in the medical profession, in fact, I am just a regular lay person, who has come to learn the hard way a great deal about something that I wish I never had to know about.  My husband nearly died last year of a bacterial infection called MRSA.  I want to be sure that our community is informed about MRSA because it is so prevalent across the United States, and so few people become aware of it before it directly affects their lives.  We are a little bit luckier in our community, if you could call it lucky, because our media and our schools have done more than the average U.S. community to make us aware of MRSA.  We have received letters from our children’s schools about the presence of MRSA and what we can do to avoid it, and we have seen articles in the paper, albeit very sad articles about local struggles and deaths from MRSA.  With football season upon us, school back in session and bacteria in the news from Hurricane Katrina, there is no better time to address MRSA and its prevention.

 What is MRSA?

 MRSA is the acronym for Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, and is an amazingly adaptive bacterium that has grown resistant to all of the common antibiotics in our arsenal today.    There is a rapidly growing number of people in the US that are contracting this bacteria, and as a result are extremely upset because they had never even heard of it before, and now that they have it, they are quickly becoming aware of how many people in our country are suffering from it and have died from it as well.  I want to do my part to help my community become aware of MRSA, so that we can at least slow down the rapid rate of growth here, as Texas is one of the areas in our country with an epidemic growth rate of MRSA.

 Staphylococcus aureus is a very common bacterium, and is one that a great percentage of the population carries every day on their bodies.  This bacterium can cause a wide variety of infections such as impetigo, cellulitis and urinary tract infections.  They prefer to colonize in the dark moisture of your sinus cavities, and places like under your arms, and your groin area.  Generally, they do not cause a problem.  They are washed away with regular bathing, and don’t cause most of us any problems at all.  Your body is very accustomed to living with its own bacterial colonies.  They can cause very bad infections when they enter broken skin, but regular Staphylococcus is killed relatively easily with antibiotics when they occasionally overcome our body’s natural defenses.   However, these resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus are very different, because they are not killed easily by any antibiotics, and the damage they do is often permanent.  There are many strains of MRSA; one you may have heard of is Necrotizing Fascitis, the flesh-eating bacteria.  MRSA has now been found in domestic animals as well.

 MRSA has been occurring lately in all people, from all walks of life - from babies to strong healthy teenagers, to healthy adults, to the elderly.  MRSA was once a nosocomial bacteria, found only in hospitals, but now is showing up on the bodies of people who have been nowhere near a hospital or doctors office.  MRSA is especially easily contracted in contact sports, just as the regular varieties of Staphylococcus aureus have always been.  Children are very susceptible to MRSA because of their general lack of hygiene, their frequent skin to skin contact, and their underdeveloped immune systems.  Elderly people are susceptible because they have more invasive hospital procedures, and their immune systems are weak.  People with immunodeficiency diseases such as HIV and Diabetes and people who are malnourished or have recently had cancer are at an increased risk of not being able to fight off an MRSA infection.  All of these groups of people must learn to be extra careful, but MRSA is attacking even the strong and healthy now.  We must all do what is necessary to avoid these bacteria, and eliminate them from our hospitals and our communities.

 There are several reasons why we have not been made aware of MRSA as the epidemic problem that it is becoming.  I have heard of doctors saying to their patients to not inform the school that their child has MRSA, for they do not want to raise a panic.  I recently heard of a doctor in Canada who told their patient ,who recently moved there from the U.S., that the United States is so overwhelmed by the rampant superbug that they have all but given up on fighting it.  I also am fairly sure that because MRSA began as nosocomial bacteria, that fear of legal repercussions are driving the medical community underground on this subject.  Whatever the reason, MRSA can be dealt with easily, without panic, by avoiding it in the first place, but we cannot fight that of which we are unaware.

 How to Avoid MRSA

 MRSA often initially shows itself as a skin infection and often as a boil or an unexplained rash.  MRSA is often misdiagnosed as a bite from the brown recluse spider, as the infection site looks very much the same.  The area is very painful, and swollen with infection.  There is often a distinct red circle around the affected area.  Some people present with one boil, and some people will all of a sudden have many boils all over their body.  They are most often seen in the armpits, groin and buttocks areas, but can appear anywhere.  If you have one of these, you need to get to the doctor, and you also need to be sure that your doctor has the fluid from the wound cultured to find out if you are dealing with antibiotic resistant bacteria.

 Basic hygiene measures are the most effective way to avoid MRSA and Staphylococcus aureus infections:

•    Be diligent in your personal grooming and cleanliness. 

•    Always wash your hands after using the restroom, before and after preparing food, contact with animals, and anytime they are visibly dirty. 

•    Take daily baths, wash thoroughly with soap and water, and wash the bacteria down the sink where it belongs. 

•    When you are sick, be sure you dispose of used tissues properly, so no one else will come in contact with them, and wash your hands even more frequently than usual.

•    Use disposable razors for shaving, and never share your razor or borrow one from anyone. Many MRSA infections begin initially from razors, even your very own razor that has never been shared.  

•    Make sure you regularly clean the areas of your home that are frequently touched by others such as your door handles, your toilet seats and faucet handles. 

•    Use paper towels in your bathroom rather than community towels. 

•    Dispose of your rubbish regularly. 

•    Be sure that your athletes thoroughly clean their equipment after use with a sanitizing cleanser, or alcohol. 

•    Keep any open wounds covered at all times, and with a dressing that is attached to your skin on all sides. 

 I have also spoken recently to a young man who contracted MRSA from sharing a cocaine straw.  He and a sizable group of his friends now are fighting MRSA.

 You must be sure that you stay on top of your health.  Patients with immunosuppressive diseases such as Diabetes and HIV as well as recent cancer patients are at elevated risk as well as people who are malnourished.  MRSA can, and will, take hold quickly in these situations, as the bacteria thrives in these weakened conditions and can very rapidly reproduce.  I met a man  who was HIV+, and contracted MRSA from being hit in the face with a pole.  He had only a bruise, no open wound, but within a few days his face had swelled up with an MRSA infection.  Diabetes is a very prevalent disease in the United States, and as my husband can testify, undiagnosed Diabetes and MRSA can be a deadly combination.

 If you are diagnosed with MRSA, you must see a doctor with a specialty in Infectious Diseases.  They are trained to care for you, and they know what medications to use to fight your illness.  I cannot stress enough to not fool around with MRSA; this is not a situation that can be remedied by washing it and keeping Neosporin on it, as it is resistant to that antibiotic as well.  Be sure you get your infection cultured right away and get the right antibiotics to kill it, and follow up with your doctor afterwards.  We are so lucky in our small Bryan/College Station community to have great doctors.  Even at my husband’s most dire moments, I had confidence that they were taking the best possible care of him.   If you are not comfortable with your doctor’s diagnosis, get a second opinion quickly because the key is to not let this infection get out of control.  At the first sign of infection, please go to the doctor, it can save your life.

 

Where Did MRSA Come From?

 MRSA and all of the other “Superbugs” in the community setting are direct results of the overuse of antibiotics and antibacterial products.    What doesn’t kill these bacteria does make them stronger.  When you take antibiotics that you pressured your doctor to prescribe because you just felt horrible, even though you didn’t have a bacterial infection, you have made the bacteria that were there stronger and more resistant to that antibiotic.  When you have a bacterial infection and stop taking your prescribed antibiotics when you feel better, rather than completing the full course, you have made those bacteria that weren’t killed off a little stronger and more resistant.  When you obsessively use antibacterial cleansers on everything, including your grocery store cart, you are killing some bacteria, but you are creating resistant “Super” bacteria and in the case of the grocery cart, you are transferring it to other people.  There is also evidence that the widespread use of antibiotics in cattle as preventative medication is causing antibiotic resistance that is transferring to humans.  As you can see, this becomes a great catch 22.  Now that these bacteria are present in my home, I have to fight the urge to spray antibacterial products all over everything, all of the time.  I was told by a retired Registered Nurse that she has never used antibacterial anything, not even hand soap, in her home, and has never had a problem with bacteria.  Our bodies were designed to be able to fight these bacteria, but our chemical intrusion has saved some lives at the cost of making us less able to fight it on their own.  Our mothers just a generation ago never had antibacterial products, and we do, and look what we have done to ourselves.

 More natural is the antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria that occur in the hospital.  This is the place that must be sanitized frequently; this is the place that “should” have problems with resistant bacteria.  Hospitals and medical offices must do what is necessary to protect their patients from bacteria.  Many hospitals use their cleaning budget as a place that they can cut corners, and this can be no more.  I think it is very unfortunate that we have to legislate cleanliness in our hospital settings, but that is what we have to do.  Several U.S. states and countries around the world have enacted laws requiring hospitals to disclose their infection rates, and many more have bills on the table, including Texas.  I would love to think that hospitals would do this on their own, as good stewards of their communities, but rising costs of all sorts have pushed them to save money where they can, and cleanliness is one area that they could trim the budget, because most patients just don’t have the resources to distinguish between clean-looking and sanitary, and they get much more upset if the hospital doesn’t have a good snack bar, or beautiful decor.  But what a shame to go into the hospital for a procedure to save your life, just to lose it to bacteria that you acquired during your hospital stay.  This happens so frequently that I am sure the numbers would be absolutely shocking if they were revealed, and I am sure it is the reason that hospitals will not address this on their own.

 

Where Does MRSA Go From Here?

 MRSA can go one of two ways.  The problem can keep growing - we can keep overusing antibiotics and antibacterial products, and keep sweeping this issue under the rug, and it is going to get much worse, very quickly.  MRSA strains have already appeared that are resistant to the top MRSA antibiotics, Vancomycin and Linezoid, which is the newest MRSA drug.  If we choose this first option, we must put more funds into antibiotic research and development to create new drugs that will kill these Superbugs, but won’t kill us.  The other, wiser, option is to work together to do all that we can to eradicate MRSA.  We can educate ourselves, practice good hygiene, take care of our bodies, and be smart about antibiotic use.  And insist that our medical community do all that it can to properly clean, and care for their patients.

  

MRSA is in our lives now.  There is nothing we can do about that.  We can, however, take measures to see that it doesn’t get any worse.  We can take good care of ourselves so that it does not directly affect us, and we can educate those around us to do the same thing.  Never in our lives has it been so important to listen to and remember your mother saying “Wash your hands.”  What you don’t know CAN hurt you.  In fact, it can kill you.

 

 

 

            - Christina Jones is a resident of College Station, and maintains the informational web site http://www.mrsaresources.com/ for sufferers of MRSA and their caregivers.