Doctors: Pets can be source of staph superbug

[Gunny]

(AP) -- People struggling to get rid of recurrent staph infections might want to consider an often-overlooked source: the family pet.

Doctors have reported the first transmission of MRSA between a cat a German woman.

A German woman repeatedly battled the same strain of drug-resistant superbug MRSA until her cat was tested and treated.

It's one of the few documented cases of transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus between a person and a cat.

The otherwise healthy woman had deep abscesses, or boils, all over her back, said Dr. Andreas Sing, a microbiologist at the Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority in Oberschleissheim near Munich.

Nasal and other swabs from her husband and two children showed they carried the MRSA germ on skin but had no signs of infection.

Antiseptic washes and antibiotic nasal ointment killed the germ in the other family members, but the woman was still infected.

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Four weeks after the apparently healthy cat was treated with antibiotics, the woman was free of MRSA and her abscesses had all healed, Sing wrote in a brief report in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.
(AP) -- People struggling to get rid of recurrent staph infections might want to consider an often-overlooked source: the family pet.


Doctors have reported the first transmission of MRSA between a cat a German woman.

A German woman repeatedly battled the same strain of drug-resistant superbug MRSA until her cat was tested and treated.

It's one of the few documented cases of transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus between a person and a cat.

The otherwise healthy woman had deep abscesses, or boils, all over her back, said Dr. Andreas Sing, a microbiologist at the Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority in Oberschleissheim near Munich.

Nasal and other swabs from her husband and two children showed they carried the MRSA germ on skin but had no signs of infection.

Antiseptic washes and antibiotic nasal ointment killed the germ in the other family members, but the woman was still infected.

Four weeks after the apparently healthy cat was treated with antibiotics, the woman was free of MRSA and her abscesses had all healed, Sing wrote in a brief report in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

more ... http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/12/cat.staph.ap/index.html

Info for anyone that might have a recurring problem with this. Took my wife 3 months to get rid of it last year (no pet involved). It's no joke.

 

[waltky]

Barrier to superbugs in hospitals...

Material mimicking shark skin combats hospital superbugs
Sept. 17, 2014 | A shark skin-like material called Sharklet can be used to combat superbugs in hospitals, according to a new study.

The material emulates shark skin in that it has microscopic ridges and grooves that don't hold bacteria that tends to cling to surfaces in hospitals. A sample of the bacteria Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was sprayed on the surface, mimicking a human's sneeze. The Sharklet had 94 percent less MRSA than a smooth surface, beating the other tested material copper which only had 80 percent less.

"Shark skin itself is not an antimicrobial surface, rather it seems highly adapted to resist attachment of living organisms such as algae and barnacles," study researcher Ethan Mann, a research scientist at Sharklet Technologies, which makes the material, said in a statement. "We have learned much from nature in building this material texture."

A shark skin-like material called Sharklet can be used to combat superbugs in hospitals, according to a new study.

The study, published Monday in the journal Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control, said the material needs to go through hospital testing and not just laboratory testing. Use in a hospital setting will determine whether it is truly effective.

That still does not discount other safe practices. Doctors and medical must still wash their hands to prevent the spread of bacteria. Sharklet Technologies is a privately held company that does not disclose financial information publicly.

Material mimicking shark skin combats hospital superbugs - UPI.com

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Last I heard, number one risk factor for staph is visiting a hospital, so consider the source.

 

[waltky]

Superbugs Threaten Global Physical & Financial Health...

Report: Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria Threaten Global Physical & Financial Health
20 Sept.`16 - The growing number of "superbug" infections could push 28 million people into extreme poverty, hurt the economy as badly at the 2008 financial crisis, make health care costs soar, damage livestock production and cost millions of human lives by 2050 unless there is prompt, effective and sustained action.

The warnings Monday come from a World Bank report on the costs of the rising tide of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, that experts say grow from the misuse and overuse of antimicrobial drugs. Global leaders are set to discuss the threat posed by antimicrobial resistance, also called "AMR," this week in New York. Antibiotics can treat bacterial infections but have no effect on diseases caused by viruses. Patients often pressure doctors to prescribe antibiotics for illnesses where antibiotics provide no benefit. Antibiotics are also fed, by the ton, to livestock in order to help them grow more quickly.

Multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis bacteria.​

Whenever an antibiotic is used, it kills most, but not all, bacteria. The surviving bacteria are antibiotic-resistant and now have no competition for food or space. These antibiotic-resistant bacteria, dubbed "superbugs" can now quickly reproduce and become the dominant strain of this particularly bacteria. That means an antibiotic that was once effective at treating a particular infection now has little impact. Over time, more and more antibiotics have been worn out in this fashion, and the world could now face a future where diseases that were once easily treated are now serious, expensive and sometimes deadly problems.

Various experts say the problem is complex and solutions could include better better farming practices as well as diagnostic tests to help doctors avoid inappropriately prescribing antibiotics. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls antibiotic resistance one of the world's "most pressing public health problems."

Report: Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria Threaten Global Physical & Financial Health