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Winter 2008 - Article 1

From The Lab
MRSA – After the Media Storm

In mid-October, a media storm ensued when a Bedford County Virginia high school student died from an antibiotic-resistant staph infection known as MRSA. All 21 schools in the county were closed for a thorough cleaning and disinfecting. The media frenzy continued with stories of “super-bug” cases being reported across the country.

So, is MRSA a real epidemic or a media epidemic? Some background will help shed some light on this question.

MRSA was first identified in the 1960’s as a healthcare concern. Patients with compromised immune systems that have undergone surgery, those on dialysis or those with catheters are all potential MRSA candidates. These infections are known as HA-MRSA or Healthcare-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus. They have been a problem for decades in healthcare settings and will continue to be in the near future.

The type of MRSA the media focused on that strikes otherwise healthy individuals through skin infections is called Community-Associated (CA)-MRSA. While CA-MRSA is serious, it is treatable and, for the most part, preventable. In fact, the CDC states that almost all MRSA skin infections can be effectively treated by drainage of pus and proper wound care. More serious blood and bone infections are very rare in people who get MRSA skin infections. The key is proper prevention and, if infected, proper identification and treatment.

In schools, prisons and other close quarter areas MRSA is transmitted by direct skin-to-skin contact or contact with shared items or surfaces that have contacted someone else’s infection. Shared items such as towels, razors and other personal care items are examples.

Students can protect themselves by practicing good hand hygiene (hot water and soap and/or alcohol-based hand sanitizers), covering skin wounds and abrasions with clean bandages and not sharing personal care items. Athletes participating in contact sports such as wrestling and football are at higher risk of skin infections. Therefore, shared sports equipment such as wrestling mats and weights should be sanitized regularly, uniforms washed after each use and cuts and scrapes attended to immediately.

All of Essential’s disinfectants carry the MRSA claim. Some have inquired about a CA-MRSA claim. We are working on adding this claim to our Neutral Germicidal Cleaner (#702) sometime in the next couple of months. In the meantime, be aware ­­that EPA-registered disinfectants that claim efficacy for MRSA are universally suitable for MRSA, HA-MRSA and CA-MRSA on environmental surfaces.

So is MRSA a real epidemic or a media epidemic? Most would say media epidemic, especially in the case of CA-MRSA.