MRSA: Awareness and Prevention

She called me for what I thought was a usual chat. We have been good friends for over 25 years. She talked a while, and then told me she was calling from the hospital. I almost when through the phone. Upon inquiring, I discovered that she had been diagnosed with MRSA. I'd never heard of it, and neither had she. She then told me yellow pus was draining out from a hole in the back of her head.

By then my curiosity had taken hold of me, and I wanted to know what had happened to her. She explained that she had gone to a hair stylist and simply asked for a line, which is a trim of the nape in the back of the head. It seems the stylist had failed to disinfect her clippers after use on a previous client. While she was trimming her nape, she accidentally nicked her. My friend didn't think anything about the nick, however the area around it began to swell. First it took the size of a dime, then quickly the shape of a nickel. She felt maybe it would just go away, but it didn't. The swelling proceeded until over a third of the back of her head was swollen. This went on for three days, At that point, she went to the hospital for a diagnosis, only to discover that she had been infected with MRSA.

It took the hospital staff about a day to conclude that she had this deadly staph infection. She said she knew whatever it was, it was very serious. The hospital staff began coming to her room in masks, gowns, booties, and gloves. She was put in isolation. They informed her that MRSA was a disease which caused infections which would not adhere to conventional antibiotics. They told her they would try to see which treatment could help her, however, in the meantime, the yellow pus continued to drain from the hole in her head where she had been nicked.

This was my first encounter with the disease. Fortunately, she stayed in the hospital about a week and was released with a list of careful instructions. She is now well and doing fine, however, when I asked her if she would return back to that salon, her answer was definitely "No!"

Doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers have known about such staph resistant diseases as MRSA for a while, however, the media has raised the awareness of it for the general public in the wake of the death of several teens, commencing with a 17 year old boy in Virginia in October, 2007. It has now more commonly acknowledged and much has been written in the media and discussed to give us a better understanding of the disease.

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureaus (MRSA) is a staph infection which resists treatment with methicillian, amoxicillin and penicillin. For many years these antibiotics were successful in treating infections, however, many animals who have been treated with the same antibiotics have built up resistance to them. When people eat the meat of these animals, their bodies also become resistant . At that point, doctors try a variety of other kinds of antibiotics to see which ones can work in various cases. If the disease is caught in its early stages, there is hope, however, if it is allowed to run its course, it can result in death.

Recently our local newspaper told about a middle school student who had MRSA. Although his school did not shut down, a crew was called in to disinfect the school, and part of the school was shut down until it was felt to be safe for the student body. We are now beginning to see more and more of these incidences as MRSA has become a public topic for discussion.

In order to prevent the spread of this dread disease, some of the following practices are invaluable:

1. Wash your hands before eating meals and snacks.
2. Keep your surroundings clean as well as your clothing.
3. Insist that people who style your hair have disinfected tools.
4. Observe people who handle your food to make sure they are wearing plastic gloves and plastic caps on their heads.
5. Report any restaurant which seems careless in their services. Such things to report would be dirty utensils, dirty surroundings, and workers who come to work wearing dirty clothing.
6. Become aware of the cases of MSRA in your area. Tell others who are uninformed about its existence.
7. Insist upon sanitary practices when in a medical office or facility, especially doctors, dentists' offices, and hospitals.
8. Do not go around people who have the disease until they have been released by their doctor.
9. Read about the disease on the Internet, in magazines and listen to health programs which are explaining MRSA.
10. If someone in your home gets the disease, contact the Health Department immediately to see what steps you should take to disinfect your home so that others in the home will not catch it.
11. Use antiseptic on all open wounds. Get professional help if the wound does not heal and continues to swell or manifests pus drainage.
12. Do not wipe your body with other people's towels while at a gym or workout facility. m. Bring your own sanitizer to wipe handles or equipment that you will use in a gym or workout facility. If you have none, ask the clerk or trainer of the facility if some is available.
13. Shower before leaving a workout facility or gym.

It has been said that MRSA has the potential to kill more people than the AIDS virus. As people who desire to live life to its fullest, we must become more aware and vigilant in pursing knowledge about this disease. MRSA and other staph resistant diseases are now coming out of their own closets. Until additional drugs are discovered that will successfully combat these types of diseases, we can only help to fight them by doing all we can, and hope for a better tomorrow.