By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical WriterMon Jun 25, 12:28 AM ET
A dangerous, drug-resistant staph germ may be infecting as many as 5 percent of hospital and nursing home patients, according to a comprehensive study.
At least 30,000 U.S. hospital patients may have the superbug at any given time, according to a survey released Monday by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.
The estimate is about 10 times the rate that some health officials had previously estimated.
Some federal health officials said they had not seen the study and could not comment on its methodology or its prevalence. But they welcomed added attention to the problem.
"This is a welcome piece of information that emphasizes that this is a huge problem in health care facilities, and more needs to done to prevent it," said Dr. John Jernigan, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At issue is a superbug known as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which cannot be tamed by certain common antibiotics. It is associated with sometimes-horrific skin infections, but it also causes blood infections, pneumonia and other illnesses.
The potentially fatal germ, which is spread by touch, typically thrives in health care settings where people have open wounds. But in recent years, "community-associated" outbreaks have occurred among prisoners, children and athletes, with the germ spreading through skin contact or shared items such as towels.
Past studies have looked at how common the superbug is in specific patient groups, such as emergency-room patients with skin infections in 11 U.S. cities, dialysis patients or those admitted to intensive care units in a sample of a few hundred teaching hospitals.
It's difficult to compare prevalence estimates from the different studies, experts said, but the new study suggests the superbug is eight to 11 times more common than some other studies have concluded.
The new study was different in that it sampled a larger and more diverse set of health care facilities. It also was more recent than other studies, and it counted cases in which the bacterium was merely present in a patient and not necessarily causing disease.
The infection control professionals' association sent surveys to its more than 11,000 members and asked them to pick one day from Oct. 1 to Nov. 10, 2006, to count cases of the infection. They were to turn in the number of all the patients in their health care facilities who were identified through test results as infected or colonized with the superbug.
The final results represented 1,237 hospitals and nursing homes — or roughly 21 percent of U.S. inpatient health care facilities, association officials said.
The researchers concluded that at least 46 out of every 1,000 patients had the bug.
There was a breakdown: About 34 per 1,000 were infected with the superbug, meaning they had skin or blood infections or some other clinical symptom. And 12 per 1,000 were "colonized," meaning they had the bug but no illness.
Most of the patients were identified within 48 hours of hospital admission, which means, the researchers believe, that they didn't have time to become infected to the degree that a test would show it. For that reason, the researchers concluded that about 75 percent of patients walked into the hospitals and nursing homes already carrying the bug.
"They acquired it in a previous stay in health care facility, or out in the community," said Dr. William Jarvis, a consulting epidemiologist and former CDC officials who led the study.
The infection can be treated with other antibiotics. Health care workers can prevent spread of the bug through hand-washing and equipment decontamination, and by wearing gloves and gowns and by separating infected people from other patients.
The study is being presented this week at the association's annual meeting in San Jose, Calif., but has not been submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
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On the Net:
Association for Professionals in Infection Control & Epidemiology: http://www.apic.org
The CDC's Web page on MRSA: http://tinyurl.com/ysc87z
2 comments:
It's looking like I have had staph for years. Over those years my primary care physician never identified why I was so sick, with symptoms and sites all over my body. I eventually saw 5 more doctors over a couple years. Not one took a blood sample. The hospital ER that finally diagnosed my staph (I almost died) still didn't put the word 'staph' on any of my medical records. Why would they do that, anyone know? Is staph supposed to be a secret? What should I do? I'm still not well. I lost my job; had to retire early. I had no energy and still sleep a lot.
I aam truly sorry to hear of your illness; and am very familar with pain and disability. Fortunately am able to work--I am a PhD psych. performing psychiatric evals at welfare offices for clients attempting to qualify for temporary assistance on a psychiatric incapacity. They can also qualify on physical disability as well if they meet the criterion. I only give you my work background to explain the skewed population I work with, which no doubt has skewed my perception of this disease. My comments are not a direct response of inference to your current situation.
Every time, (and I rarely say "Every time" about anything) that a person tells me they have MERSA I know that have been severely abusing IV drugs. The 2 just seem to go together (a compromised immune system would be another scenario, but then again, IV drug users usually have compromised immune systems due their very poor care. I fear that MERSA is going to be the new AIDS; or maybe it is just another maniefestation. I am not an MD so don't really know all that much about what I am talking about her.
Thanks for the opportunity to vent a little. It just hurts to see people hurt themselves so badly, and this is one really bad maniestation of staff. I wish I had some ideas for you but don't know anything about your lifestyle, nor I am judging it. Perhaps another reader may be more helpful.
Heal!
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