Saturday, October 06, 2007
Hospital bacteria beset valleys
An increase in MRSA infections is due to the wide use of antibiotics, one pediatrician says.
How to prevent MRSA and other staph infections
- Wash your hands often, especially after you are exposed to someone with an infection or when you touch objects that may be contaminated.
- Keep cuts and scrapes clean and covered.
- Avoid sharing personal items such as towels, sports equipment and razors.
- If a sore or cut becomes red, oozes, causes pain or isn’t healing, see a doctor.
- If you are prescribed antibiotics, take all the pills even if you feel better before they are all gone.
A bacterial skin infection most often seen in hospitals is becoming more prevalent in the healthy community, according to several local and state health officials.
Four cases of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus have been reported at two Bedford County high schools and one Roanoke County high school in the past two weeks.
"It is a growing problem," said Bedford pediatrician Dr. Stephen Bryant. "In the hot, sweaty fall days of football practice, MRSA is not unusual."
Of the four cases reported in Bedford and Roanoke counties, three of the students were involved in school athletics. Even though the infection is surfacing in high school locker rooms, Bryant cautioned parents not to be alarmed.
An increase in the number of MRSA infections is a result of the wide use of antibiotics, Bryant said.
"It's a whole range of bacteria not just Staph aureus," he said.
The Virginia Department of Health estimates that MRSA is colonized in the noses of some 30 percent of healthy people, making the bacteria very common.
An infection occurs when the bacteria enter the skin through an abrasion or open wound. MRSA is most commonly transmitted through skin-to-skin contact.
Under VDH guidelines, MRSA is not one of the 17 diseases and infections the department records, making it difficult to track the number of cases.
"We don't get every report of individual cases," health department spokesman Bobby Parker said.
VDH maintains some records of MRSA outbreaks, or clusters of the infection, though the data are obscure.
Last year in the Roanoke and New River valleys, five MRSA outbreaks were documented. In the same area, four outbreaks were recorded in 2005. However, the health department's data do not specify how many individuals were affected in each outbreak.
"MRSA is present in the community," Parker said. "We know it's here."
Reported cases or outbreaks do not signal the health department to take action or make changes in its functions, but the department has developed educational campaigns to prevent the spread of MRSA, he said.
"It used to be the way you caught MRSA was in the hospital," said Carilion Clinic spokesman Eric Earnhart. "Now it's in the community."
MRSA first appeared in hospitals in the early 1960s, and cases in the healthy community have become more prevalent since the 1990s, said Parker.
Cases of hospital-acquired MRSA also are on the rise. According to a study released in July by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, MRSA infections in hospitals tripled from 1995 to 2005.
At Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, "we recently started to test patients from high-risk environments who have likely been exposed to MRSA," said Earnhart.
Incoming hospital patients carrying the infection are likely to come from nursing homes or other hospitals, he said.
A nasal swab is used to screen for MRSA and offers quick results.
Earnhart declined to disclose the number of MRSA cases being treated at Roanoke Memorial.
