Mercer...spreading quicly near my town?

Question

A staff infection people are referring to as mercer is spreading rapidly around the area in which I live. A school in another city has been shut down after 2 children died from this virus. I work in a pharmacy and have had parents comming in after leaving from days at the hospital with their small children to pick up prescription...and its really scaring me!!! What can I do, besides the obvious, to prevent getting this and bringing it home to me 1 year old?

Any suggestions I may not be thinking of?

Answer 1

Make sure to wash your hands; use hand sanitizer; wear gloves. In short, practice good hygiene. Be SURE to use a hand sanitizer before you go home to your own child. You're in an occupation where you're exposed to a lot of sick people unfortunately, so if I were in your situation, I'd go home and bathe BEFORE I picked my child up from whatever care situation he/she is in.

By the way, it's "staph" infection - as in staphylococcus.

Answer 2

First, take a deep breath. It's not as bad as it sounds. MRSA, or methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterial infection. It's actually been around for a long time, but a few community outbreaks have gotten a kind of disproportional amount of attention. Here's the real deal.

MRSA is still just Staph aureus, which can cause wound infections, and in some very very sick or very elderly people, it has been known to cause respiratory illness, and a few other infections. But if you're otherwise pretty healthy, it's not that scary. Quite a large number of people who work in health care carry Staph aureus, usually in their noses, and never get sick. Most healthy people don't get sick from it.

The best thing you can do to prevent it is practice good hygeine habits. Wash your hands after contact with other people, carry some sanitizing wipes and use them to clean things you share with other people, like telephones, cash registers, etc. If you have a cut, clean it, use antibiotic cream, and keep it covered. You avoid it just like you avoid all bacteria. By keeping things clean.

The advantage to being in a community where there have been some recent cases is that doctors and labs are on the lookout for it. If you or someone you know does get an MRSA infection, it can be treated, they just have to use a different antibiotic.

Another important distinction is that MRSA is not the only Staph. There are several, so just because you have a Staph infection, does not mean you have S. aureus, and even if it is S. aureus, it's not necessarily MRSA.

Answer 3

What is MRSA?
Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus is a common type of staph bacterium which lives on the skin and in the nasal passages of around 30% of the population. Mostly, this staph aureus bacterium does no harm and does not pose a problem with infection or require a cure. But, like many bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus has the ability to pose a serious infection problem, if you are feeling run down, ill, injured or if you have undergone any form of surgery. It can cause a very serious staph infection, if it enters the body, such as through open wounds, or instruments placed in the body, or by cross-contamination from another patient, nursing staff or specialist. Without proper treatment, this can lead to death or be difficult to cure.

MRSA infections are most commonly transmitted from person to person by touch. It is also possible to acquire MRSA infection from dust containing contaminated skin particles or from objects in the environment, or from surfaces that may be contaminated with the MRSA bacterium.

An antibiotic called Methicillin was used for the treatment and cure of infections caused by staph bacterium. The term 'Methicillin resistant' means that this type of antibiotic can no longer kill 100% of the staph bacterium and another antibiotic needs to be used, if available. If Methicillin can no longer be used for the treatment and cure of Staphylococcus aureus infection, it is medically referred to as MRSA.

The Causation of MRSA
Antibiotics have been in use for many years as a successfull treatment and cure for staph infections. However, these antibiotics have been overused, misused and over prescribed as a cure for staph aureus infection for many years. It is fairly common for people to not complete a course of antibiotics, or not use as prescribed. If this happens, it is probable that not 100% of the bacterium that caused staph infection will have been killed. Surviving staph bacterium develop a resistance to this antibiotic and multiply. As more and more antibiotics are prescribed, the number of staph bacterium that are able to resist those antibiotics become more numerous. The biggest problem with the use of antibiotics, is that they are non-focused. Therefore, they do not discriminate between good and bad bacteria, otherwise known as 'Flora' which can be found in the large intestines and form a large part of the bodies immune system. Without this immune system protection, 'superbugs' are free to develop.

Treatment of MRSA
MRSA can be treated with different antibiotics to Methicillin. However, this is becoming increasingly difficult. Medications, such as antiseptic wash and certain ointments can be used to remove MRSA from the nasal passages and skin. Even when it is doing no harm to the individual. However, there is now a new product that has been proven to be effective in killing all MRSA bacterium and a lot of other known pathogens. The New Silver Solution is non-toxic, proven in multiple tests at 200 times the recommended dosage. The New Silver Solution is the first colloidal silver product to attain a new patent in over 80 years. This product can be used internally, externally and as a surfectant, to both prevent and cure MRSA infection. The New Silver Solution can also be used with animals and all our test data shows it to be very effective.

Lots More Information Here: http://www.mrsamedical.com/

Answer 4

What Emmy (above) said is absolutely correct . . . except for one thing. It can be a bear to get properly diagnosed if you are infected. I do believe that all the publicity is changing that.

It took me quite a number of abscesses (boils) and hospitalizations before I was referred to an infectious disease doc who finally treated it properly.

Since there aren't many drugs that can zap MRSA, some people who are allergic to sulfa drugs (I think it's the sulfas) are having a hard time with it, too. But then, the more common it becomes, the more likely it is that more drugs that will kill it will be developed.

As to the kids who have been treated, those few days in the hospital have reduced their threat to you considerably. When I was infected, I lived with my daughter, her baby, and my son who was near death from heart disease, and not one of them picked it up. Keep your hands clean and don't worry. Even if you did become infected, you'd be more likely to have no problems or have a boil than anything more serious.

L.
.

Answer 5

Currently, there are about 3 antibiotics which have an indication for MRSA, and another 10 for which it is an off labeled use.
Most people who die from MRSA have some other problem to begin with.
The reason for this has to do with antibiotic overuse. Don't beg your doctor for an antibiotic. If you need one, he will prescribe one for you.

Answer 6

MRSA---and the only thing you can do is wash your hands 900 times a day. It's not airborne, so like you said...stick with the obvious.