How does the superbug spread ad what can i do to prevent catching it?

Question

They have found it a few cases in Weston Connecticut. That is a few towns from me. I dont want to catch it. WHAT CAN I DO!?!?!?!?!?!

Answer 1

People catch staph from direct contact with an infected source. Here's a few things you can do:

*As much as possible, avoid skin contact with surfaces that are most likely to be contaminated by someone else touching them.

* Wash your hands frequently when in public places

* Become aware of your hands - stop habits where your hand touches your face - like nail chewing, resting your chin on your hands, etc - unless you wash your hands first

* Your forearms usually rest on all sorts of things during the day, and clothes are like sponges for bacteria. the arms of clothes that you wear more than once between washings - things like sweatshirts and jackets - should be considered contaminated.

* Wash your clothes with a detergent that contains germ-killing ingredients.

* Avoid anything that irritates or dries your skin- raw skin is more susceptible to infection.

If you do get a staph infection, make sure the doctor takes a sample of the bacteria to determine if it is normal staph or the super bug - this step would have nearly eliminated most of the deaths that have occurred. The super bug can usually be killed if doctors know you have it before the infection starts to spread.

I almost forgot the most important thing - cuts, sores, and scratches are the things that usually cause serious staph infections. If you get scratched, wash the wound right away. If you get cut, wash it with soap & water, apply iodine or merthiiolate, let it dry and use a bandaid. Reapply iodine and change bandaid after 12 hours, or whenever the bandaid gets wet. Open sores from acne can also be a problem. If you have pimples that are oozing or bleeding, wash your face when you get home, and apply iodine or other antiseptic at night. If a cut or sore gets unusually red, go to the doctor.

Answer 2

You've probably heard that everyone has billions of bacteria living on every part of their skin. Distasteful as it seems, it's quite true. The bacteria are called colonizers which means that they live on the skin and USUALLY don't cause us any harm. If they get into the deeper layers of the skin or further into the body, they can set up infections.

In healthy folks, these infections are usually skin infections and they're treated by regular doctors on an outpatient basis.

One of the bacteria that colonizes some people's skin is called staphylococcus aureus. The "superbug" de jour (to be distinguished from SARS and the bird flu which were each "superbugs" in the press in their time) is called MRSA which stands for methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus - this is ordinary staph aureus which has learned to be resistant to methicillin and many other antibiotics.

A key point, however, is that it has NOT learned to be resistant to ALL antibiotics. There are still some left that are readily available to doctors and can be used to treat it.

MRSA is a concern because it changes the way doctors must practice medicine/prescribe antibiotics AND it changes the way medical research dollars must allocated (we need additional research on ways to kill MRSA so that we'll be ready should MRSA evolve resistance to our remaining antibiotics; this research is already underway). It should not panic the rest of us unduly.

At any rate, the community acquired MRSA bug is thought to be a colonizer in some (or possibly many) people who don't know that they harbor it. This bug can spread to new folks by simple contact which means, unfortunately, that there isn't too much you can do to avoid it.

Some outbreaks are clustered around athletes - especially those who are in close contact in the locker room or on the playing field (e.g. wrestlers, football players) so I suppose you could avoid those situations but, to be honest, the bug is out and about among regular folks too.

In fact, community acquired MRSA is SO common in the spot of the US where I live, that doctors have taken to treating ALL skin infections as if they were MRSA. We see A LOT of MRSA and deal with it on a daily basis. We wash our hands after every patient but don't do anything else to keep from being infected and we've been doing quite well.

Life in the era of community acquired MRSA pretty much continues as usual. Doctors, healthcare practitioners, medical researchers, and the public health authorities have to make some changes in what they do but there's little for the rest of us to do.

Answer 3

Do you wish to grasp why there are such a large amount of sicknesses proof against antibiotics, and why I individually watch men and women loss of life on a everyday foundation because of those "insects". It's for the reason that of the indiscriminant use of antibiotics that makes the insects more potent. You consider "I'll simply take a few penicillin (or anything you'll get your fingers on), that is left over from that strep throat I had. It's within the remedy cupboard, I'll take that and consider higher. Antibiotics don't paintings that manner. Different antibiotics kill extraordinary insects. You must take them to hold a distinct degree to your blood approach. It's variety of like going to warfare. If you might have an navy of 10,000, what well does it do to ship in one thousand in the future, three hundred, the following, 800 the next, etc. You're gonna' get creamed. Anyways, frequently you're taking the abx the fallacious manner, the insects get more potent, and increase an "immunity" to the remedy. Don't mess around with antibiotics, lovely quickly this global will haven't any remedy left that the micro organism are not able to beat. By the best way, for the bloodless, simply drink lots of fluids and use it as a well excuse to get a few relaxation. There's no option to avoid a bloodless, regardless of how well your immune approach is. We consume, we breathe, we poop, and we seize colds.

Answer 4

Superbugs are spread mainly inside hospitals. They develop due to the overuse of antibiotics. It's all evolution and natural selection. The antibiotics kill most of the bacteria but a few, due to a genetic variation, survive. These few can then multiply and spread. Since they are immune to the antibiotics usually used on them they are incurable (unless they have/develop another antibiotic). But as I say, superbugs tend to stay in hospitals since that is where antibiotics are widely used. So the best way I can think of to avoid catching them is to simply stay out of hospital!

Also, if you want to know more, check out the link below (good ol' wiki)

Answer 5

for the most part, it is spread by infections. that much i know. idk if you can get it in any other way. i know what you mean though, healthcare or scientist or whom ever needs to put a lid on that thing FAST...