Nursings's "Dirty" Little Secret, Part II

From today's Vidette Times, although I've seen this tory literally EVERYWHERE the last two days as well:

Deadly infection is real, but is it a cause for panic?
Thursday, October 18, 2007 2:10 AM CDT

BY HEATHER AUGUSTYN: Times Correspondent

In 2005, nearly 19,000 Americans died of invasive infections caused by a drug-resistant bacteria, according to a study released in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Even more alarming is that this bacterial infection, known as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), caused more deaths than AIDS.

But local doctors and public health officials say that this study may be misleading. MRSA infection rates may be on the rise, but deaths are not. "I do not find an epidemic of death," said Dr. Daniel Smith, director of infection prevention for the Munster Community Hospitals. "MRSA is usually never the cause of death. It's misleading. Death could be from diabetes or anything else. Can MRSA cause death? Yes. Have I seen it in the 25 years I've been here? Not in the last three, four, five years. People have died who have also had MRSA."

Smith says the difference in this strain is the way in which it spreads. "We've had MRSA here for a while and I don't think it's any more resistant than it has been. It's been this way for 15 years, but this strain releases a toxin that causes more skin abscesses. We have seen MRSA cases double or quadruple over the past three years in the community, and so we're seeing an increase in MRSA patients," Smith said.

As a result, Smith says his staff has implemented methods to decrease the spread of MRSA and all infectious diseases. "We place the patient in isolation so the infection is not spread from one person to another, and we emphasize hand washing -- not just with soap and water but with an alcohol gel that kills 99.99 percent of all germs, including MRSA," Smith said.

If this sounds the least bit familiar, it's because I blogged about this six weeks ago HERE. The decrease of hand washing in Nursing is spreading this little bug everywhere in hospitals. The decline in kids showering after gym class is spreading the bug likewise in gym classes and subsequently through schools.

An interesting point I've noticed in this story; I've heard this reported variously that either MRSA "kills more people every year than AIDS" as reported above, but several more liberal news organs (like the San Antonio Express-News) report that MRSA is only "approaching the levels of deaths by AIDS."

Hmmmmmm. Protecting a constituency, are we?

Anyway, the bottom line: Soap - And - Freakin' - Water. Kills the bugs every time -- no bacteria is immune to them, or virus, for that matter. Just wash your hands, nurses -- and for God's Sake, take a shower, kids!

~~JD~~