Be vigilant against staph

WITH ABOUT 19,000 people dying nationwide each year from antibiotic-resistant staph infections, it's important to be vigilant in personal hygiene, public health surveillance and aggressive countermeasures at a level consistent with the fight against AIDS infections.

Indeed, more people die in the United States each year from staph infections than from AIDS.

Local officials confronted the deadly bacteria recently in Spanish Fort, when a high school football player developed an infection. To their credit, school officials called in a professional cleaning crew to disinfect school buildings.

Fortunately, the Spanish Fort student recovered, but others who have contracted staph weren't so lucky. A Valley, Ala., woman died in October of complications from MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) infection, becoming the first MRSA victim in Alabama.

It's estimated that 90,000 people have MRSA in the United States at any one time, though most of the cases occur in hospitals where health care professionals take aggressive measures against any infection.

Staph bacteria, though, are often present on the skin and in nasal passages. The "super bug" drug-resistant bacteria live among easily treatable bacteria and can enter a person's bloodstream through a minor scrape or cut, or through the skin pores.

Moreover, the dangerous bacteria can live on towels and other items that have come in contact with skin, jumping onto new hosts who come in contact with them, spreading and leading to an outbreak (defined as three or more cases).

Ironically, these super bugs occur because of the medical community's aggressive use of antibiotics against normal bacteria. Because of this widespread use, some bacteria become resistant to drugs.

But staph infections can be prevented, which is where personal hygiene comes in. Health officials suggest frequent washing of hands, showering after exercise, avoiding using someone else's towel, razor or other personal items that come in contact with skin, and cleansing of exercise equipment in public gyms.

Public health officials, too, can do more by requiring more aggressive reporting of individual cases, especially those that develop outside hospitals. With public awareness, personal hygiene and public health watchfulness, outbreaks of MRSA from community sources can become a health problem of the past.



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