There has been a lot in the news over the past year about
Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA (often pronounced “mur-sa”). MRSA is a strain of the Staphylococcus
bacteria that has developed a resistance to the major antibiotics used to treat
an infection, including methicillin, penicillin and cephalosporins. The media has begun to refer to MRSA as a ‘superbug’,
in recognition of the fact that the bacteria has successfully evolved to thwart
human attempts to control it.
MRSA is spread in one of two ways. Direct skin-to-skin contact is the most frequent means of contagion. MRSA can also be transmitted on touched objects, but it is important to note that this is exceedingly rare when the skin is whole. In almost all cases of indirect contraction of the infection, the bacteria came into contact with a wound or opening in the skin. Keeping all open wounds, sores, and breaks in the skin covered, no matter how small, is important to preventing infections. Good hygiene is also important, and diligent hand washing and body cleaning will reduce your risks of contracting MRSA.
It is also important to note that the strength of a person’s
immune system is an important factor in warding off a Staph infection. People with compromised immune systems are at
a much greater risk of contracting the infection and of having a more serious
infection. Maintaining a healthy immune system
is absolutely critical as a means of protecting yourself from any number of diseases,
including MRSA. Being sure to get your
vitamins is very important, especially Vitamin C. I have also had very good results using oil of
oregano, which supports the body’s immune system and has been shown to be a
potent tool against microorganisms. Studies
have indicated that sufficiently pure oil of oregano is able to kill MRSA
bacteria.
Finally, MRSA presents itself as a perfect example of why it is so important to refrain from overusing antibiotics. Too many people reach for antibiotics for every sniffle and cough, hoping to nip the problem in the bud. But for most everyday illness, antibiotics are useless; they do nothing to fight colds, flus, viral infections or allergic reactions. Using antibiotics for these purposes will not help you, and only offer naturally-occurring bacteria an opportunity to develop resistances to the antibiotics. An important part of fighting antibiotic-resistant bacteria is to keep them from developing, and by using antibiotics only when necessary, you can starve bacteria of their chance to evolve resistances.
How Did This Happen?
Over use of antibiotic is not only the reason this bacteria has developed resistance. Initially in 1980s MRSA infections were reported from various pediatric departments in UK hospitals. During this period, HIV was also becoming a major problem and attracted media attention. Staphylococcus was not seen as a major threat by doctors and often dismissed blood culture results as normal commensal (Staphylococcus aureus). Some babies were very ill and so were treated with vancomycin. These babies should have been treated in isolation but the guidelines were not strictly followed.
When working as a junior doctor in pediatric neonatal unit, we initially noticed an increased infection rate was common in babies who were very ill, very preterm when subjected to multiple punctures to introduce cannula or catheters. We tried to organize a study to prove our hypothesis but lacked support.
We decided to do something about it and so designed a cannula which is safe for users and the patients. The aim was to develop a device that could help doctors and nurses to cannulate babies in the first attempt. After testing various concepts, we invented the spring-loaded cannula introducer and now the U-Cannula. The results of our study were published in Anesthesia Analgesia in 1992 and the video recording demonstrating our technique is published in You tube. The cannula manufacturers are not keen to introduce this product due to fear of de-skilling doctors and nurses. They have invested large amount of their R&D funds to bring in safety cannula that only offer safety features to protect staff from needle stick injury and not cater to patient’s safety.
Various hospitals are now training and using nurses as phlebotomy and cannula introducing technicians. Nurses performing this procedure have de-skilled doctors by not giving them the opportunity to introduce cannula. Nursing Association (UK) published paper recommending their member to pass on the responsibility to cannulate to doctors in emergency situation and if the patient is said to be critical or the nurse felt the technique will be difficult.
MRSA infection has increased in tandem with cannula use and we feel repeated opportunity given to this organism to survive in blood has resulted in this situation. Skin preparation and hand washing was not monitored. IV Cannula is often introduced in the lumen of blood vessels in the hand. CDC guidelines recommend this based on catheters and not on evidence from IV cannulae. Now we know the hand is the main area this MRSA lives and cannula as a major risk factor for MRSA.
We are sad and disappointed that the doctors and nurses did not take care to prevent this catastrophe. We hope people who read this will take care to remind the doctors and nurses about hand washing and observe adequate drying time and use sterile gloves (not the ones kept scattered around in boxes in the ward) before they introduce IV cannula. We hope this will reduce introducing infections is some patients.
Posted by: Dr Kadiyali M Srivatsa | December 13, 2007 at 04:15 AM
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Posted by: Daryl Saari/GBG Representative | May 27, 2008 at 12:45 AM
An interesting post indeed, and very "of the moment" as we see so many reports in the news about MRSA contraction. I've heard that manuka honey, cultivated in New Zealand can help ward off viruses including MRSA and that patients looking to enter hospital should dose up - I'm wondering if there's sufficient evidence for it though, as much of it is currently anecdotal?
I've found an article on the subject at the following link, it would be good to know your thoughts.
http://www.foodeu.com/articles/Manuka+Honey+The+Lifesaver.aspx
Posted by: Chloe | June 23, 2008 at 09:51 PM
MRSA is really scary. how many future strains of bacteria would be resistant to antibiotics in the years to come.
Posted by: body-detox-diet | July 02, 2008 at 09:32 PM
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Posted by: anne | October 27, 2008 at 12:59 PM
With the oregeno oil (since it is antimicrobial), do you worry about killing off beneficial bacteria in the gut that would be a boost to the immune system? Have you tried using probiotics at all to treat MRSA?
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Posted by: Chrish Tiyan | September 12, 2009 at 03:29 AM
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Posted by: Account Deleted | January 11, 2010 at 12:54 PM
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in good health
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Posted by: Misty Humphrey | September 11, 2010 at 01:31 PM
One should not get paranoid about being clean, and ignore the real meaning of personal hygiene.
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Posted by: Account Deleted | July 01, 2011 at 05:23 AM
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