Staph Fatalities May Exceed AIDS Deaths

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Staph Fatalities May Exceed AIDS Deaths

By LINDSEY TANNER

AP Medical Writer

7:35 PM CDT, October 16, 2007

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More than 90,000 Americans get potentially deadly infections each year from a

drug-resistant staph " superbug, " the government reported Tuesday in its

first overall estimate of invasive disease caused by the germ.

Deaths tied to these infections may exceed those caused by AIDS, said one

public health expert commenting on the new study. The report shows just how far

one form of the staph germ has spread beyond its traditional hospital

setting.

The overall incidence rate was about 32 invasive infections per 100,000

people. That's an " astounding " figure, said an editorial in Wednesday's Journal

of the American Medical Association, which published the study.

Most drug-resistant staph cases are mild skin infections. But this study

focused on invasive infections -- those that enter the bloodstream or destroy

flesh and can turn deadly.

Researchers found that only about one-quarter involved hospitalized

patients. However, more than half were in the health care system -- people who

had

recently had surgery or were on kidney dialysis, for example. Open wounds and

exposure to medical equipment are major ways the bug spreads.

In recent years, the resistant germ has become more common in hospitals and

it has been spreading through prisons, gyms and locker rooms, and in poor

urban neighborhoods.

The new study offers the broadest look yet at the pervasiveness of the most

severe infections caused by the bug, called methicillin-resistant

Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. These bacteria can be carried by healthy

people, living

on their skin or in their noses.

An invasive form of the disease is being blamed for the death Monday of a

17-year-old Virginia high school senior. Doctors said the germ had spread to

his kidneys, liver, lungs and muscles around his heart.

The researchers' estimates are extrapolated from 2005 surveillance data from

nine mostly urban regions considered representative of the country. There

were 5,287 invasive infections reported that year in people living in those

regions, which would translate to an estimated 94,360 cases nationally, the

researchers said.

Most cases were life-threatening bloodstream infections. However, about 10

percent involved so-called flesh-eating disease, according to the study led by

researchers at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There were 988 reported deaths among infected people in the study, for a

rate of 6.3 per 100,000. That would translate to 18,650 deaths annually,

although the researchers don't know if MRSA was the cause in all cases.

If these deaths all were related to staph infections, the total would exceed

other better-known causes of death including AIDS -- which killed an

estimated 17,011 Americans in 2005 -- said Dr. Bancroft of the Los

Angeles

County Health Department, the editorial author.

The results underscore the need for better prevention measures. That

includes curbing the overuse of antibiotics and improving hand-washing and

other

hygiene procedures among hospital workers, said the CDC's Dr. Fridkin, a

study co-author.

Some hospitals have drastically cut infections by first isolating new

patients until they are screened for MRSA.

The bacteria don't respond to penicillin-related antibiotics once commonly

used to treat them, partly because of overuse. They can be treated with other

drugs but health officials worry that their overuse could cause the germ to

become resistant to those, too.

A survey earlier this year suggested that MRSA infections, including

noninvasive mild forms, affect 46 out of every 1,000 U.S. hospital and nursing

home

patients -- or as many as 5 percent. These patients are vulnerable because of

open wounds and invasive medical equipment that can help the germ spread.

Dr. Buddy Creech, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University,

said the JAMA study emphasizes the broad scope of the drug-resistant staph

" epidemic, " and highlights the need for a vaccine, which he called " the holy

grail of staphylococcal research. "

The regions studied were: the Atlanta metropolitan area; Baltimore,

Connecticut; son County, Tenn.; the Denver metropolitan area; Monroe

County, NY;

the Portland, Ore. metropolitan area; Ramsey County, Minn.; and the San

Francisco metropolitan area.

Louis N. Molino, Sr., CET

FF/NREMT-B/FSI/EMSI

Owner and President of LNM Emergency Services Consulting Services (LNMECS)

Freelance Consultant/Trainer/Author/Journalist/Fire Protection Consultant

LNMolino@...

(Cell Phone)

(IFW/TFW/FSS Office)

(IFW/TFW/FSS Fax)

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