Replies to '04/01 The Superbug'

Apart from hand washing, if you KNOW you have a MRSA infection or are colonized:

Cover cuts and scrapes

Avoid contact w other people's wounds/cuts

Avoid sharing personal items

Wipe down surface you come into contact with

Yes, it is true that you can be "colonized", or have MRSA on your skin/ up your nose and not even know it.  I think many people in the community don't even know they have it.  Some hospitals now screen for it upon admission, and do "terminal cleaning" after every patient (wiping down surfaces w disinfectant).  Patients do have close contact but usually MRSA pts are put into isolation during hospitalization.

According to the CDC (I'll give you a site), about 1% of the population is colonized with MRSA, so it's not common, but no one knows who that 1% is.  MRSA is very treatable with strong antibiotics.

Here's the site:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa_ca_public.html

  It cause serious illness and death in immunocompromised and renal (dialysis) patients and can kill you if you don't get treatment.  But it is very treatable.

I read over my 2nd paragraph, and wanted to clarify:

Yes, you can have MRSA and not get sick, but pass it on.

As for the cleaning, it will only get rid of the MRSA that's on surfaces (and not necessarily all of it).

It comes down to being hygenic.

MRSA seems to be more prevalent in crowded, dirty environments, among athletes and in prisons, also.

One reason why it's spread in hospitals is that it takes a day or two to get the results from a culture (which identifies MRSA), so that person has a couple of days of NOT being in isolation.  Also, even isolated patients occasionally have to "travel"down to different departments in the hospital,which can spread it.

I'd suggest that people who visit the hospital carry a little bottle of hand sanitizer, and use right before they get in the car to go home (to prevent the bacteria from getting on your steering wheel).  Even sanitizers are not enough.  When you get home, WASH your hands thoroughly.