| Antibiotic-resistant
infection raises concern
10/28/04
Galveston Daily News
by Sarah Viren
La Marque - Chris
Greenwald, 25, was standing in his garage Tuesday afternoon
with some others from the neighborhood. One by one they lifted
their T-shirt sleeves or peeled back bandages. But
it wasn’t to brag about sports injuries or macho scars.
The young men were comparing jellybean-sized bumps on their
bodies. Some — like Greenwald — had infections
pushing up against the skin.The neighbors say they are suffering from or
had suffered from a strain of staph infection their doctors
identified as MRSA — or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus. Staph is caused by germs carried on the skin. Infection
happens when those germs get in open cuts or sores. MRSA is
unique in that it is resistant to treatment by traditional
antibiotics such as Methicillin.
Health officials say MRSA is a problem throughout
the United States. Health officials say these infections seem
to be getting more and more common.
“We do know this is a growing
concern, not just locally but nationally,” said Kurt
Koopmann, public information officer for the Galveston County
Health District. In 2000, the county jail discovered an outbreak
of the infection among inmates. Those incidences were initially
misdiagnosed as spider bites.
Dr. Jeffrey Starke, director of infections
control at Texas Children’s Hospital, said he started
to see a boom in antibiotic-resistant staph infections in
the Houston area in the late 1990s.
Although Koopmann said the health district
has not seen an increase in reports of the bacteria recently,
Greenwald and his neighbors say it seems like a local epidemic.
And it’s not pretty. The infection usually starts like
a pimple or in-grown hair, the neighbors say. From there is
grows, getting bigger and increasing in pressure.
“It’s like a flesh-eating disease,”
said Greenwald. “The scarring is horrible. It leaves
holes in you. It’s literally rotting the skin.”
The boys each say they know about 20 others who have the infection.Sometimes treatment includes lancing or draining
the boils. Doctors can also prescribe antibiotics to kill
the infection. Officials from Mainland Medical Center, where
Greenwald was treated, said there doesn’t appear to
be a local jump in cases of MRSA.
“We have not seen any increase in the
average number of staph-related cases through our emergency
department in the last three years,” said Harold Fattig,
public information officer. “We have no evidence that
the incidents of community-related staph is any higher than
the state or national averages.”One of Greenwald’s neighbors said his
infection went away after it was treated with antibiotics.
He, like others, was left with a small lump of a scar to show
for it.
But Greenwald said he can’t seem to
shake the infection. He got the first boil around a year ago.
It went away, but he got another bump two months ago. It’s
on the back of his neck. He keeps it covered with a cloth
bandage to contain the infection and keep it hidden. “It
looks like a brown recluse spider bite, but then they get
10 times worse,” he said. Greenwald changes his sheets
every night, thinking that might keep the infection from spreading.
Recently his father got infected: a boil-like bump formed
on his lip. It is just starting to go away.The bacterium is spread through contact, either
direct skin-to-skin contact or through sharing contaminated
items like towels or razors.Starke said he often sees clusters
of it among family members or players of close-contact sports
teams like football or wrestling.
MRSA: A relatively new form of staph (or bacteria)
infection that is immune to some common antibiotics. The skin
infection usually occurs on open cuts or broken skin.Treatment: Antibiotics such as Cyindamycin,
Bactrim or Doxycyline or draining the sore.
Tips on stopping the spread of infectionPractice good hygiene.
1. Keep your hands clean by washing thoroughly
with soap and water.2. Keep cuts and abrasions clean and covered
with a proper dressing until healed.
3. Avoid contact with other people’s
wounds or material contaminated from wounds.
What to do if you think you have an MRSA infection: Contact
your health care provider.— Sources: U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and Dr. Jeffrey Starke, director of
infections control at Texas Children’s Hospital.
For More Information Contact:
Kurt Koopmann
Public Information Officer
Galveston County Health District
(409) 938-2211
kkoopman@gchd.org |
