It has been widely noticed in health circles, that the cases of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) have been steadily rising in hospitals around the globe. While there is no way to determine how many cases there are at any one point in time, it is possible to collect data reported from years past and report statistics. In the case of MSRA, statistics are available from as recent as two years prior giving those in the medical field the ability to determine vital information that they need to help diagnose and contain outbreaks.
In 2007 vital statistics regarding the outbreak of MRSA was released by the Centre for Disease Control in the United States. Startling with information from as recent as 2005, in the United States alone MRSA was responsible for the death of nineteen thousand people. Several thousand more cases of the deadly virus were contracted by patients in hospitals, with statistics reporting these cases as high as ninety four thousand.
The statistical data collected for MRSA also showed very important trends that those in the health care industry will find helpful in controlling the disease in future years. When it is known who is more susceptible to the disease, every measure can be taken to try and prevent patients from contracting MRSA. Older patients are the demographic that is most at risk for contracting MRSA and this is due largely to their advanced age and therefore weaker immune systems. The other telling demographic represented in the data is the African American community. The reasoning behind the data that supports a huge increase in the number of people of African American descent that contract the disease is the higher percentage of chronic disease which leads to more frequent hospital visits and stays.
While there is a lapse in statistics that are currently available, new data is always being provided and analyzed. By continuing to collect data on MRSA we improve our chances of reducing outbreaks to future hospital patients.
Known as the superbug of superbugs, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) is a very dangerous and hard to treat bacteria, mainly because of its almost total resistance to drugs and the various methods by which it can spread. The colonisation characteristics of MRSA and its uncanny ability to thrive more or less anywhere are two of the fundamental reasons for growing concerns about the contraction of the disease among thousands and thousands of patients who are already hospitalised for any other particular reason.
Once MRSA has found a way to enter the bloodstream, it has the ability to spread around the entire body, including the organs, making it extremely difficult to treat. All patients that are already sick or have been operated on for any reason and possess weakened immune systems, are the most susceptible group to these bacteria and could also contract other types of diseases and complications due to the MRSA.
From the very beginning it is a complicated procedure to try and treat someone who has contracted MRSA because the bacteria present are Methicillin resistant. This means they do not respond to treatments incorporating Methicillin which may work on other forms of the bacteria.
During the course of recent years, as the bacteria have managed to evolve, MRSA has developed a resistance to the main antibiotic used to treat it and has left us with little else to try and treat patients with. Left to spread in unsuspecting patients, MRSA can infect the lungs causing instances of pneumonia, infect the heart, bones, and liver, and even cause septic shock. Each and every one of these complications is very serious and can even lead to death among patients who are not able to recover from a serious infection of this type.
The nature of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) makes it highly contagious and thus able to spread rapidly. Colonisation by bacteria occurs when they (bacteria) multiply and grow without any interruptions until they finally spread over an entire area on a carrier - in other words a person that has the bacteria present on their body. Entire areas of the body can be covered with a colony of MRSA without the patient ever being infected themselves; which is why it is vitally important to wash hands after having been in contact with an infected patient.
Health care workers can also be carriers for a colony of MRSA when proper post and pre-treatment procedures are not followed. Lack of proper hand washing, used surgical gloves, dirty surgical gowns and masks and medical instruments that have been used on more than one patient, are all different methods that a colony of MRSA bacteria can establish itself and grow.
The nonspecific characteristics of the bacteria also make it easier for it to grow and harder for us to control. Any surface of the skin is a great place for a colony to establish itself. Common places on a patient for colonised MRSA are areas such as the skin, near wounds or in the urine of an infected person. Even though we know that colonised MRSA does exist, it is difficult and almost possible to isolate a colony of MRSA or even those persons that may have colonies of the bacteria growing on them. Therefore it is necessary to consider all hospital patients as possible carriers and take the necessary precautions to eliminate the possibility of spreading the infection.
