Mom was right — washing hands best way to prevent infections

Mom was right — washing hands best way to prevent infections

By VICKI ROCK
Daily American Staff Writer
Saturday, September 29, 2007 12:57 AM EDT

Outbreaks of a dangerous bacteria have been reported at the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh and in school districts in the Pittsburgh area.

Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, known as MRSA, is a bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics normally used to treat infections, said Dr. Jayesh Desai, medical director of infection control at Somerset Hospital.

While most MRSA used to be hospital-acquired (the infection began after the patient was in the hospital for at least 48 hours), now 75 percent of cases are either community-acquired (the patient was not in the hospital) or hospital-associated community onset MRSA (onset occurs between 24 to 48 hours of hospital entry), he said.

“There is a concern,” Desai said. “Statistically, it’s a scary situation. In the past, it was hospital-related or disease-related. Now, the majority are community-acquired or hospital-associated community onset. The really scary part is the disease has changed. It affects the general community in day-to-day life.”

MRSA usually causes skin infections that produce boils or lesions. They look like infected hair follicles or boils, the physician said.

Bacteria are transmitted by direct physical contact such as touching contaminated towels or sports equipment. The bacteria can get into the bloodstream causing more severe illnesses. Clusters of outbreaks occur in institutions, such as jails and schools, and in gyms.

“I don’t know about how hygienic jails and prisons are, but they are closed facilities,” he said. “If inmates already have an AIDS-related illness, it can be deadly.”

In gyms, MRSA spreads if someone who has it touches equipment and someone else then touches the equipment without cleaning it, Mary Ann Birch, a registered nurse in infection control, said.

“Wash your hands after using gym equipment,” she said. “People shouldn’t share towels or water bottles. When someone is injured during sports, the trainer treating the injured person must wear gloves if there is an open wound. Cover open wounds and don’t touch them.”

Grocery stores are now offering sanitary wipes for people to clean handles of shopping carts, Desai said. That is a good idea. The bacteria doesn’t live long on inanimate objects.

There are occasionally some cases of MRSA in Somerset County, but he hasn’t seen any clusters of illness here. State law does not require doctors, school districts or prisons to report these cases.

“In 1972, only 2 percent of all hospital-acquired staph infections were MRSA,” said Michele Russic, director of pharmacy and infection control at Somerset Hospital. “Now, nationally that is 50 to 70 percent.”

MRSA infections lead to longer hospital stays — on average an additional 10 days, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and the mortality rate among patients with MRSA bacterial infection in the bloodstream is estimated to be as high as 23 percent.

“Bacteria is around us all the time, use basic common sense,” she said. “Wash your hands and use soap.”

If someone has boils, or what appears to be infected hair follicles, if it doesn’t heal, see a physician, Desai said. He doesn’t advocate treating people who carry the bacteria but are not ill themselves because the bacteria will become resistant to the antibiotics. That is why hospitals keep some antibiotics in reserve and won’t use them unless a patient’s life is at risk.

Under a new state law, beginning in December, hospitals in Pennsylvania will screen all patients admitted from a nursing home for MRSA, Russic said. Some hospitals will decide to screen other high-risk groups, such as prison inmates. The test is non-invasive— a nasal swab is taken.

(Vicki Rock can be reached at vickir@dailyamerican.com.)

http://www.dailyamerican.com/articles/2007/10/04/news/news421.txt