Source of Devastating MRSA Infections Traced

Lead researcher, Frank R. DeLeo explained the importance of the findings in a prepared statement, "The USA300 group of strains appears to have extraordinary transmissibility and fitness. We anticipate that new USA300 derivatives will emerge within the next several years and that these strains will have a wide range of disease-causing potential." The Epidemic community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: Recent clonal expansion and diversification study was published online Jan. 23 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

The full study is available from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Since the 1940s, when penicillin was first invented, over 150 different types of antibiotics have been created. Yet the prevalence of antibiotics has also meant the creation of “super-bugs,” which appear when an antibiotic fails to kill every bacteria it is formed to kill.  Mayo Clinic explains that these superbugs can even exchange survival information with other bacteria—even different species—allowing additional drug-resistant organisms to emerge.

"The real doomsday scenario now is that you have an increasing number of young fit people with Community MRSA, you have a flu epidemic that makes the lungs more susceptible to infection and then the MRSA will actually kill people very quickly,” stated Professor Richard James of Nottingham's Centre for Biomolecular Sciences.

A May 2007 study indicated that MRSA rates are seven to eight times higher than the rates found in a 1999-2000 CDC study. "This is a real wake-up call, particularly for administrative and clinical leaders," states Assn. for Professionals in Infection Control & Epidemiology CEO Kathy L. Warye. "This study shows that infection control is really important, and MRSA prevention is at the top of the list."

According to Dr. Morgan who has treated Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) cases at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in Britain, “[MRSA] is the worst bug I have ever seen and people really need to know about it … It is untreatable. It multiplies very quickly. One bug will multiply into 17 million within 24 hours.” Doctors have found that a strain of MRSA, Community-Associated MRSA, is looming on playgrounds and in gyms rather than just hospitals. 

Through screening and strict hygiene measures, a few hospitals, including the Veteran’s Affairs Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA, have drastically cut the numbers of MRSA infections—in some cases by 78 percent. Yet, only a quarter of American hospitals use a methodological approach to screening for bacterial colonization. Terri Gerigk Wolf, the Director of director of VA Pittsburgh Healthcare Systems, explains: “People don’t believe it’s in their institution, and, if it is, that it’s too big to do anything about, that you just have to accept it.” 

The Center for Diseases Control and Prevention acts as an umbrella organization for MRSA research, prevention and surveillance through several networks including Dialysis Surveillance Network (DSN), which follows MRSA bloodstream infections and Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC), which works to reduce the transmission of MRSA.

Several athletes including NBA star, Grant Hill, NFL player Junior Seau, have become stricken with MRSA after surgery.  Yet, more athletes are contracting Community-Acquired MRSA in gyms and during practices. Mike Gansey, a former West Virginia Guard, had expected to be drafted in the NBA until he contracted MRSA; he was bedridden in the hospitals for two weeks. "You can't physically move. It feels like you got hit by a truck and you don't even know it," stated Gansey.

“This disease is spread by close skin-to-skin contact, crowding, sharing contaminated items,” Nicole Coffin, a spokesperson at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, stated, "At this point, everybody in the community can be at risk for MRSA.” 

The Mayo Clinic recommends that people avoid sharing personal items such as towels and razors; keep wounds covered; sanitize linens; wash hands thoroughly and if one has a skin infection that requires treatment, request a test for MRSA. To avoid MRSA while in the hospital, ask all hospital staff to wash their hands before touching the patient, wash your own hands often, and make sure that all intravenous tubes are inserted and removed in sterile conditions.

Keep Kids Healthy suggests that athletes shower and wash with soap after all competitions and practices as MRSA can spread with indirect contact through workout areas and even clothes.

Texas A&M Health Science Center Institute of Biosciences and Technology at Houston researchers found an association between CA-MRSA and an aggressive, often fatal, form of pneumonia.

Researchers from the University of East London have found allicin can treat the strongest strains of MRSA. Allicin is the ingredient that gives garlic its potent smell, yet, it has proved effective even when Vancomycin and Glycopeptides, two anti-biotics considered the last defense against MRSA, do not work. Results of a six-month study will be published in the Journal of Biomedical Science next year.