The MRSA Epidemic

The MRSA Epidemic

What is MRSA?
Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) describes a number of strains of bacteria that are resistant to many antibiotics including methicillin. A group of bacteria lives on the skin and inside of the nose. MRSA can be harmless and many people who have MRSA are not aware that they have this bacteria living on their skin or in their nose. People with weakened immune systems can develop problems. The bacteria can cause boils, abscesses, impetigo, septic wounds heart valve problems and toxic shock syndrome. Very severe cases can lead to death. I would post a picture of what MRSA looks like on the skin when more severe cases occur but it was too graphic for me to look at so just imagine a boil.

MRSA Survivors Network
The MRSA Survivors Network is a non profit organization based out of Chicago. The organization is a global leader in the fight against MRSA as well as antimicrobial resistance. The network has been asking the CDC and the DHHS to acknowledge the public health crisis that MRSA is causing publicly and to take action. Shockingly, more people die from MRSA than HIV/AIDS, Parkinson's Disease, H1N1 flu, homicides, injuries at work and infant mortality. Despite this many federal public health agencies are failing to realize how serious the problem is and to provide funding to raise awareness for prevention. The funding would help advertize the magnitude of this epidemic and the public health crisis world wide. MRSA testing would be needed to keep track of who in the world has MRSA just like there are records for HIV/AIDs.

Awareness is attempted to be raised through  multiple events. one being the International MRS testing week. this campaign is used to draw attention for the need to test high risk patients with continued surveillance along with testing the environment in health care facilities.

There is also a MRSA day and a MRSA awareness month in October. 

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases-test/the-mrsa-epidemic----a-call-to-action-201032201.html

Diseases Beyond Diseases: The Presence of Persistent Tuberculosis in Skid Row, Los Angeles

                                     Is There Hope for the Residents of Skid Row?

I was reading some news articles online when this article popped up on my Google News page. It is always interesting to see not only what stories the news reporters are paying attention to, but also what the general population is talking about. This is why I chose an alternative article off of a blog instead of your everyday news site, because the public’s knowledge is as important as that of the industry. I was also interested in this because my cousins went on vacation to California over the February vacation and I had been hearing about Tuberculosis in California from what they said local newspapers were talking about.

This article is titled “Skid Row TB [Tuberculosis] Epidemic is “Alarming” But the Community is Well-Versed in Disease”. It was one of the most recent disease-related articles written, published on February 22, and can be found at this link:http://blogdowntown.com/2013/02/7146-skid-row-tb-epidemic-is-alarming-but-the-community-is-well-versed-in-disease

Skid Row is well known for many residents of Los Angeles because of its poor sanitation, crowding issues, and largest population of homeless people in the entire United States(the estimate for 2011 was 4,316 people) and a large percentage of these people are the mentally retarded and children.


(Skid Row, Los Angeles, California)

Tuberculosis, a resistant infectious disease found here, is an infection of the lungs transmitted by respiratory droplets and has a 50% death rate when untreated.

In this article, Los Angeles Police Department’s Senior Lead Officer Deon Joseph explains the connection between the poor quality of life on Skid Row and the disease rates for Tuberculosis. He also mentioned that the CDC states that rates for TB are much higher than the national average (within the entire country there have been 10,528 cases but within Skid Row there have been 80). There have also been cases of a Staph infection, HIC, and Hepatitis (A ,B, and C) and as a result the area is known as the “petri dish” of disease for local police officers.

This strong, resistant strain of TB has been connected to a “unique strain in L.A.”, the CDC states.The lungs of someone with Tuberculosis would indicate blockage and damage, as shown in the photo below.


This reminded me of the movie we watched in class about Dr. Farmer’s work in Haiti after the storm and how destruction made infectious diseases (those such as Tuberculosis, Cholera etc.) more easily transmittable. These diseases are easily transmittable within Skid Row because of drug users sharing needles, close quarters, and a lack of sanitation.It connects to the study of epidemic, infectious diseases because of the rapid magnitude that this disease has affected the residents of Skid Row, as well as the surrounding neighborhoods.

Going way back to our germ lab and seeing how easy it was for dirty surfaces to harbor disease, it is necessary that sanitation and housing for the homeless people in Skid Row be provided as quickly as possible. TB effects everyone around someone who is sick and as a result of bring transmitted through respiratory droplets can be hard to track if the person spreading the disease is an asymptomatic carrier.Also, the man we studied in class, Robert Koch, was the first to discover the Tuberculosis bacillus.



Background information on Skid Row,Los Angeles, Caliufornia gathered from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skid_Row,_Los_Angeles

Skid Row picture from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skid_Row,_Los_Angeles

Tuberculosis lungs picture from:http://www.visualphotos.com/image/1x3742857/x-ray_of_lungs_with_tuberculosis_color_enhanced

Could the Flu Vaccine Curb Heart Disease?

 

                 http://healthcare.dmagazine.com/2012/10/30/flu-shot-may-help-curb-heart-disease/

Most years, there are over 100 million doses of influenza vaccine available to protect Americans, however, on average about 30 percent of the adult population in the United States receives an annual flu shot. Now, medical researchers are giving people more reason to consider protecting themselves against influenza. They believe the flu shot can curb heart disease.
 

Every year in the fall and winter, up to 20% of people get the flu. Health officials across North American encourage people to get the flu shot. It not only protects people from the miserable symptoms associated with the common cold and flu, it saves the work force thousands of lost work hours, as well as the medical system billions of healthcare dollars. Now a group of Toronto researchers say they’ve discovered that influenza vaccinations can significantly reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death from heart disease.


Cardiologists and scientists at Toronto’s Women’s College Hospital and University of Toronto reviewed medical data going as far back as the 1960’s. They discovered a 50 percent reduction in the risk of having a “major cardiovascular event” in the year following the flu shot.


Doctors and scientists can’t say for sure why the influenza vaccine lowers the risk of heart disease so they suggest more studies to unravel the mystery. Until now there hasn’t been a lot of evidence to suggest that the flu shot can curb heart disease, among those who have never had cardiac issues, yet there has been a lot said about protecting yourself against cold and flu once you have had a cardiac episode. The America Heart Association recommends the influenza immunization as a secondary method of prevention for those who have already suffered from a heart attack.