Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), More informaton about how we get it
In a blog posted yesterday, our friend here at Apsense, Chuck Bartok, posted an article printed in The Oakland Press (Oakland, CA) by staff writer Randal Yakey about MRSA and the seriousness of this illness. See the entire article here:
http://www.apsense.com/article/112504.html
In it, an alternative approach to treatment was suggested. (We need some decent treatment regimens as you will note below.)
While I have some "different" (shall we say 'Renegade"?) ideas about treatment of illness in general, it got me curious about what the medical world is saying about causes and treatment of MRSA from their perspective.
CNN News posted a fascinating article dated only a year ago on November 10, 2006, which can be seen in its entirety here,
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/DS/00735.html,
taken from the Mayo Clinic website.
They make some really fascinating points. Let me highlight a few:
Historically
Staph bacteria are generally harmless unless they enter the body through a cut or other wound, and even then they often cause only minor skin problems in healthy people. But in older adults and people who are ill or have weakened immune systems, ordinary staph infections can cause serious illness called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA.
In the 1990s, a type of MRSA began showing up in the wider community. Today, that form of staph, known as community-associated MRSA, or CA-MRSA, is responsible for many serious skin and soft tissue infections and for a serious form of pneumonia. When not treated properly, MRSA infection can be fatal.
Treatment
Vancomycin is one of the few antibiotics still effective against hospital strains of MRSA infection, although the drug is no longer effective in every case. Several drugs continue to work against CA-MRSA, but CA-MRSA is a rapidly evolving bacterium, and it may be a matter of time before it, too, becomes resistant to most antibiotics.
Causes antibiotic resistance
Unnecessary antibiotic use in humans.
Antibiotics in food and water.
Germ mutation.
How we get CA-MRSA - the main risk factors
Young age. CA-MRSA can be particularly dangerous in children. Often entering the body through a cut or scrape, MRSA can quickly cause a wide spread infection. Children may be susceptible because their immune systems aren't fully developed or they don't yet have antibodies to common germs. Children and young adults are also much more likely to develop dangerous forms of pneumonia than older people are.
Participating in contact sports. CA-MRSA has crept into both amateur and professional sports teams. The bacteria spread easily through cuts and abrasions and skin-to-skin contact.
Sharing towels or athletic equipment. Although few outbreaks have been reported in public gyms, CA-MRSA has spread among athletes sharing razors, towels, uniforms or equipment.
Having a weakened immune system. People with weakened immune systems, including those living with HIV/AIDS, are more likely to have severe CA-MRSA infections.
Living in crowded or unsanitary conditions. Outbreaks of CA-MRSA have occurred in military training camps and in American and European prisons.
Recent hospitalization or antibiotic use. A recent hospital stay or treatment with fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin or levofloxacin) or cephalosporin antibiotics can increase the risk of CA-MRSA.
Association with health care workers. People who are in close contact with health care workers are at increased risk of serious staph infections.
(The young man that was reported in a CA newspaper recently was an athlete participating in contact sports.)
The article goes on to talk about treatment and prevention, especially the importance of hand washing and sterilization of skin. Unfortunately it doesn't offer much hope that antibiotics will continue to be effective.
Thankfully, there is hope!
My good friend, Arthur A. Fierro, DC, has written a small book outlining the problem of treating bacteria, viruses and fungi with antibiotics. Arthur is a Diplomate and president of the American Clinical Board of Nutrition and is passionate about researching nutritional approaches to disease. He writes a very brief but understandable outline of how the bacteria make themselves resistant to antibiotics. For anyone interested in learning more about the HOW of this problem this would be a great place to begin.
The book is actually written to explain his journal research in coming up with a combination of food substances to make an effective "antibacterial" (different from "antibiotic") which he calls BioDefense. This substance has been having good results with treatment of MRSA according to reports I am getting from him.
His book is available from Amazon. If interested, this link will take you directly there:
For more information about his BioDefense, you can read this helpful PDF:
http://www.goodheartgroupinc.com/biod.pdf
Blessings,
Dr Jon
314-750-6916
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