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New Strains of MRSA Enter the General Population

"Frightening new forms of the MRSA superbug are emerging that attack the immune system, are highly infectious and can kill patients by destroying lung tissue.

The bacteria spread through the community and are not confined to hospitals like most MRSA strains.

They produce a toxin called Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PVL) that kills white blood cells, an essential part of the body's immune system defences.

Infection by one of the deadly strains could easily be overlooked because the initial symptoms appear relatively harmless."

MRSA Information

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) is a type of staph that is resistant to certain antibiotics. These antibiotics include methicillin and other more common antibiotics such as oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin. Staph infections, including MRSA, occur most frequently among persons in hospitals and healthcare facilities (such as nursing homes and dialysis centers) who have weakened immune systems (see healthcare-associated MRSA).

MRSA infections that are acquired by persons who have not been recently (within the past year) hospitalized or had a medical procedure (such as dialysis, surgery, catheters) are known as CA-MRSA infections. Staph or MRSA infections in the community are usually manifested as skin infections, such as pimples and boils, and occur in otherwise healthy people.

  More Information from the CDC:

• What is Staphylococcus aureus (staph)?
• What is MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)?
• Who gets staph or MRSA infections?
• What is community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA)?
• How common are staph and MRSA infections?
• What does a staph or MRSA infection look like?
• Are certain people at increased risk for community-associated staph or MRSA infections?
• How can I prevent staph or MRSA skin infections?
• Are people who are positive for the human immune deficiency virus (HIV) at increased risk for MRSA? Should they be taking special precautions?
• Can I get a staph or MRSA infection at my health club?
• What should I do if I think I have a staph or MRSA infection?
• Are staph and MRSA infections treatable?
• Is it possible that my staph or MRSA skin infection will come back after it is cured?
• If I have a staph, or MRSA skin infection, what can I do to prevent others from getting infected?
• What should I do if someone I know has a staph or MRSA infection?

MRSA 'spread by patient transfers' Halifax Evening Courier New research has mapped the way that MRSA "superbug" bacteria spread, BBC News has reported. The results suggest that antibiotic-resistant bacteria may often spread from large, inner-city hospitals to smaller regional ones when patients are transferred ... and more »

ABC News

How Cheap Meat Practices Beef Up Superbugs ABC News Deadly C. Diff Superbug Spreading Watch Video MRSA is among a growing number of bacterial strains that are highly resistant to antibiotics and are very difficult to treat when they cause serious infections. According to infectious disease experts, ... and more »

The National

MRSA: The antibiotic-resistant bug that has health officials worried Fox News Methicillin, an antibiotic of the penicillin class, was formerly used to treat staph infections but is now only used in laboratories to identify antibiotic-resistant strains of staph infection. Staphylococcus aureus is found in healthy people, ... Derrick Adams: Sometimes you should give antibiotics a restRecord-Searchlight all 8 news articles »

Bacterial Resistance To Drugs Creates Window Of Opportunity For Biopharma Firms Seeking Alpha This creates a window of opportunity for small biopharmaceutical firms to develop novel antibiotics targeted at resistant bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other similar organisms. MRSA strains of bacteria are ... and more »

Healthcare Today

MRSA OUTBREAKS START AT MAJOR CITY HOSPITALS Express.co.uk By Dean Herbert HOSPITALS in large cities are acting as "breeding grounds" for the superbug MRSA before it is spread across the country, a new study has revealed. Researchers found that strains of the potentially deadly infection present in small ... Large hospitals breed MRSAHealthcare Today all 106 news articles »

Asian MRSA Epidemic Tied to Single Gene MedPage Today Note that the study also found evidence of horizontal spread of this new virulence determinant to other strains of MRSA. A single, rare gene may be responsible for a wave of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in Asia, ... and more »

AFP

Jumping Gene Linked to MRSA Spread Scientist The sequencing revealed a gene of unknown function, present in only a handful of sequenced MRSA strains around the world, that seemingly originated in Asia. Min Li at Shanghai Medical College in China, along with her former postdoc advisor, ... Searching for a superbug's secret weaponNature.com Gene points to Achilles' heel in MRSA superbugAFP NIH Scientists Link Quickly Spreading Gene to Asian MRSA EpidemicHealthCanal.com all 25 news articles »

NovaBay's Aganocide Out-Performed Traditional Antibiotics in Drug Resistance Study MarketWatch (press release) In the study, NVC-422 was tested for development of resistance in strains of E. coli, P. aeruginosa, and S. aureus, including MRSA. The study used a well-recognized serial passage model to determine if the bacteria are likely to develop resistance over ... and more »

Bovine-associated MRSA ST398 in the Netherlands 7thSpace Interactive (press release) The molecular analyses of 14 MRSA(one MRSA strain per herd) strains revealed that all strains belong to ST398 with 3 closelyrelated spa types (t011, t108 and t889, all commonly found in pigs) and carry 2 differentSCCmec types, IVa and V. All MRSA ...

Rapid identification of superbugs and new drugs to combat them Phys.Org "We have made progress on MRSA – having discovered how marine bacteria join together two antibiotics they make independently to produce a potent chemical that can kill drug-resistant strains of MRSA," explains Chris, Professor of Molecular Genetics. and more »