Fighting a Killer Infection: MRSA

Ivanhoe Broadcast News
Friday, March 23, 2007; 4:15 AM

NASHVILLE (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Anne Matthews was thrilled when doctors told her she delivered a healthy baby boy. But that joy turned to panic after they discovered Cameron had a staph infection on his spine.

"My husband and I both cried a little while over it. Just prayed. It's the worst thing you want to hear when you have a new baby," Anne says.

Doctors saved Cameron with the strongest antibiotic available. But others haven't been as lucky.

MRSA, a type of staph infection resistant to most antibiotics, is affecting more and more healthy people as a new strain emerges in the general community. The infections are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics as a new, more potent strain emerges outside the hospital -- especially among athletes who come in close contact. Typically, MRSA doesn't get worse than a skin boil, but it can lead to severe problems and sometimes death.

"It hits healthy people. It actually seems to be much more virulent, and it can produce toxins and actually make people very sick, very quickly," Tom Talbot, M.D., an infectious disease epidemiologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, tells Ivanhoe.

That's why scientists are developing a vaccine to stop MRSA in its tracks.

In one study, the Staphylococcus aureus Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine, or StaphVAX, appeared to protect 94 percent of people.

"Staph is like an M&M candy. What StaphVAX targets are components of that shell," Dr. Talbot says.

Another study wasn't as promising, but doctors hope to perfect it -- ideally by wiping out staph bacteria that normally live in the nose.

One study showed doctors prescribed an antibiotic that was resistant to MRSA in 57 percent of cases. While antibiotics still sometimes work, until a vaccine is widely available, wash hands often. Don't share towels or other personal items. Look out for signs of infection -- like redness, swelling, and warmth. MRSA community strains most often appear on the skin as a boil or pimple that can be swollen, red and painful, and have discharge.

See your doctor if you have those signs and it's not healing. MRSA is now the most common cause of ER skin infections in the country.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

If you would like more information, please contact:

John Howser
News and Public Affairs
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN 37232-2390
(615) 322-4774
http://www.cdc.gov