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Herbs & Plants

Turnera ulmifolia

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Botanical Name : Turnera ulmifolia
Family: Passifloraceae
Genus: Turnera
Species: T. ulmifolia
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Malpighiales

Common Names:Yellow Alder,Ram Goat Dash Along,Buttercup Bush

Habitat :Turnera ulmifolia is native to Mexico and the West Indies.

Description:
Turnera ulmifolia is a nonwoody plant.It hassimple, alternate leaves with toothed edges, The leaf blades were about 5 cm by 2.5 cm long.Theleaf veins are  in a feather pattern (pinnate venation). The flower solitary (not a part of a flower cluster or inflorescence). It has 5 slightly fringed petals and 5 pollen-bearing stamens.Hairs on both top and bottom gave the leaves a velvety feel.

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Medicinal Uses:
This herb is said to have aphrodisiac properties.  The tea from the leaves has been used for colds and general debility.

A recent study found that yellow alder potentiated the antibiotic activity against methicillin—resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://ntsavanna.com/elm-leaved-turnera-turnera-ulmifolia/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnera_ulmifolia
http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_RST.htm

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Ailmemts & Remedies

MRSA

Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, MRSA
Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, MRSA (Photo credit: Microbe World)

Definition:
MRSA(Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)   is a bacterium responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans. It may also be called multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ORSA).

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MRSA is, by definition, any strain of Staphylococcus aureus that has developed resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics which include the penicillins (methicillin, dicloxacillin, nafcillin, oxacillin, etc.) and the cephalosporins.

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Most MRSA infections occur in people who have been in hospitals or other health care settings, such as nursing homes and dialysis centers. When it occurs in these settings, it’s known as health care-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA). HA-MRSA infections typically are associated with invasive procedures or devices, such as surgeries, intravenous tubing or artificial joints.

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Another type of MRSA infection has occurred in the wider community — among healthy people. This form, community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA), often begins as a painful skin boil. It’s spread by skin-to-skin contact. At-risk populations include groups such as high school wrestlers, child care workers and people who live in crowded conditions.

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MRSA is capable of resisting Beta-Lactamase resistant Antibiotics via the mecA gene. This is a gene that encodes Penicillin-binding-protein 2a (PBP2a). ?-lactam antibiotics have a low affinity for PBP2a, therefore cell wall synthesis is able to proceed in their presence.

Symptoms:
S. aureus most commonly colonizes the anterior nares (the nostrils), although the rest of the respiratory tract, open wounds, intravenous catheters, and urinary tract are also potential sites for infection. Healthy individuals may carry MRSA asymptomatically for periods ranging from a few weeks to many years. Patients with compromised immune systems are at a significantly greater risk of symptomatic secondary infection.

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In most patients, MRSA can be detected by swabbing the nostrils and isolating the bacteria found inside. Combined with extra sanitary measures for those in contact with infected patients, screening patients admitted to hospitals has been found to be effective in minimizing the spread of MRSA in hospitals in the United States,  Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands.

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MRSA may progress substantially within 24–48 hours of initial topical symptoms. After 72 hours MRSA can take hold in human tissues and eventually become resistant to treatment. The initial presentation of MRSA is small red bumps that resemble pimples, spider bites, or boils that may be accompanied by fever and occasionally rashes. Within a few days the bumps become larger, more painful, and eventually open into deep, pus-filled boils.  About 75 percent of community-associated (CA-) MRSA infections are localized to skin and soft tissue and usually can be treated effectively. However, some CA-MRSA strains display enhanced virulence, spreading more rapidly and causing illness much more severe than traditional healthcare-associated (HA-) MRSA infections, and they can affect vital organs and lead to widespread infection (sepsis), toxic shock syndrome and necrotizing (“flesh-eating”) pneumonia. This is thought to be due to toxins carried by CA-MRSA strains, such as PVL and PSM, though PVL was recently found to not be a factor in a study by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the NIH. It is not known why some healthy people develop CA-MRSA skin infections that are treatable whereas others infected with the same strain develop severe infections or die.  The bacteria attack parts of the immune system, and even engulf white blood cells, the opposite of the usual.

The most common manifestations of CA-MRSA are skin infections such as necrotizing fasciitis or pyomyositis (most commonly found in the tropics), necrotizing pneumonia, infective endocarditis (which affects the valves of the heart), or bone or joint infections.  CA-MRSA often results in abscess formation that requires incision and drainage. Before the spread of MRSA into the community, abscesses were not considered contagious because it was assumed that infection required violation of skin integrity and the introduction of staphylococci from normal skin colonization. However, newly emerging CA-MRSA is transmissible (similar, but with very important differences) from Hospital-Associated MRSA. CA-MRSA is less likely than other forms of MRSA to cause cellulitis.

Causes  :
It’s all about survival of the fittest – the basic principle of evolution. Bacteria have been around a lot longer than us, so they’re pretty good at it.

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There are countless different strains of a single type of bacteria, and each has subtle natural genetic mutations that make it different from another. In addition, bacterial genes are constantly mutating.

Some strains’ genetic makeup will give them a slight advantage when it comes to fighting off antibiotic attack. So when susceptible strains encounter antibiotics they die, while these naturally resistant strains may prove harder to kill. This means the next time you encounter S.aureus, it’s more likely to be one that has survived an antibiotic encounter, (i.e. a resistant one). Eventually, the strain becomes resistant to different antibiotics, even though they work in slightly different ways.

When you are prescribed antibiotics, you are advised to finish the entire course. If you don’t do this, there’s a chance that you’ll kill most of the bugs but not all of them – and the ones that survive are likely to be those that have adapted to be more resistant to antibiotics.

Over time, the bulk of the S.aureus strains will carry resistant genes and further mutations may only add to their survival ability. Strains that manage to carry two or three resistance genes will have extraordinary powers of resistance to a range of different antibiotics.

The reason hospitals seem to be hotbeds for resistant MRSA is because with many vulnerable patients, infections are common and easily spread. So many different strains are thrown together with so many doses of antibiotics, vastly accelerating this natural selection process.

Click & see: MRSA study shows spread from animals to hospitals

.Risk factors:
At risk populations include:

*People with weak immune systems (people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer patients, transplant recipients, severe asthmatics, etc.)

*Diabetics

*Intravenous drug users

*Use of quinolone antibiotics

*Young children

*The elderly

*College students living in dormitories

*People staying or working in a health care facility for an extended period of time

*People who spend time in coastal waters where MRSA is present, such as some beaches in Florida and the west coast of the United States

*People who spend time in confined spaces with other people, including prison inmates, military recruits in basic training, and individuals who spend considerable time in changerooms or gyms.

*Hospital patients

*Prison inmates:

*People in contact with live food-producing animals

*Athletes

*Children

Diasgnosis:
A century or more ago people knew that an infection was bad news and could rapidly kill a patient. But these days, since the rapid development of antibiotics after World War Two, we often take the power of antibiotics for granted, and expect them to work without question. MRSA is dangerous because it takes us back to the days when little could be done to stop an infection.

MRSA is particularly dangerous in hospitals. It’s a fact of life in the NHS that hospital patients are at higher than normal risk of picking up a S.aureus infection on the wards.

This is for two reasons. Firstly, hospital populations tend to be older, sicker and weaker than the general population, and therefore more vulnerable to infection. Secondly, conditions in hospitals involve a great many people living cheek by jowl, examined by doctors and nurses who have just touched other patients – the perfect environment for the transmission of all manner of infections. This is why there are strict hand-washing and hygiene measures when entering and leaving wards, and between seeing different patients.

Once these patients develop an infection they’re less able than a healthy person to fight it and urgent treatment with antibiotics may be critical. But because MRSA is resistant to many antibiotics, it may quickly overwhelm a weak patient, or cause a festering infection (for example in a wound or a joint implant) that causes tissue destruction and chronic disability.

Strains:
In the UK, where MRSA is commonly called “Golden Staph”, the most common strains of MRSA are EMRSA15 and EMRSA16.  EMRSA16 is the best described epidemiologically: it originated in Kettering, England, and the full genomic sequence of this strain has been published.   EMRSA16 has been found to be identical to the ST36:USA200 strain, which circulates in the United States, and to carry the SCCmec type II, enterotoxin A and toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 genes.  Under the new international typing system, this strain is now called MRSA252. It is not entirely certain why this strain has become so successful, whereas previous strains have failed to persist. One explanation is the characteristic pattern of antibiotic susceptibility. Both the EMRSA15 and EMRSA16 strains are resistant to erythromycin and ciprofloxacin. It is known that Staphylococcus aureus can survive intracellularly,   for example in the nasal mucosa   and in the tonsil tissue ,.   Erythromycin and Ciprofloxacin are precisely the antibiotics that best penetrate intracellularly; it may be that these strains of S. aureus are therefore able to exploit an intracellular niche.

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Community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA) is more easily treated, though more virulent, than hospital-acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA). CA-MRSA apparently did not evolve de novo in the community but represents a hybrid between MRSA that spread from the hospital environment and strains that were once easily treatable in the community. Most of the hybrid strains also acquired a factor that increases their virulence, resulting in the development of deep-tissue infections from minor scrapes and cuts, as well as many cases of fatal pneumonia.

In the United States, most cases of CA-MRSA are caused by a CC8 strain designated ST8:USA300, which carries SCCmec type IV, Panton-Valentine leukocidin, PSM-alpha and enterotoxins Q and K, and ST1:USA400.  Other community-acquired strains of MRSA are ST8:USA500 and ST59:USA1000. In many nations of the world, MRSA strains with different predominant genetic background types have come to predominate among CA-MRSA strains; USA300 easily tops the list in the U. S. and is becoming more common in Canada after its first appearance there in 2004. For example, in Australia ST93 strains are common, while in continental Europe ST80 strains predominate (Tristan et al., Emerging Infectious Diseases, 2006). In Taiwan, ST59 strains, some of which are resistant to many non-beta-lactam antibiotics, have arisen as common causes of skin and soft tissue infections in the community. In a remote region of Alaska, unlike most of the continental U. S., USA300 was found rarely in a study of MRSA strains from outbreaks in 1996 and 2000 as well as in surveillance from 2004–06 (David et al., Emerg Infect Dis 2008).

In June of 2011, the discovery of a new strain of MRSA was announced by two separate teams of researchers in the UK. Its genetic make-up was reportedly more similar to strains found in animals, and testing kits designed to detect MRSA were unable to identify it.

Treatment:
Antibiotics are not completely powerless against MRSA, but patients may require a much higher dose over a much longer period, or the use of an alternative antibiotic, often needing intravenous administration or with less tolerable side-effects, to which the bug has less resistance.

MRSA is just one of a number of infections causing major challenges for health workers, and some are concerned that the situation can only get worse. There is no doubt that there is an urgent need to develop new and better antibiotics and, more importantly, to work harder to prevent infection spreading and use the antibiotics we already have more efficiently.

There is some evidence that MRSA in hospitals is already decreasing, as a result of better protocols to deal with the bacteria and prevent infection developing (with strategies such as regular screening of patients and use of eradication treatments).

Prevention:
To keep MRSA and other infections at bay, prevention is your best weapon. It is highly recommended that all individuals keep their immune system functioning to its best ability.
This can be done most efficiently by:

* taking a good daily multi-vitamin and mineral supplement

* drinking a minimum of 32 oz. of pure water every day

* practice good hygiene methods

* take a good immune system booster like astragalus or ashwagandha every day (be sure to check for allergic reactions)

* only take echinacea if you feel like you are fighting off some bacterial or viral infection AND…..do not take echinacea for longer than 3-4 weeks at a time (it will loose its effectiveness if taken regularly as a preventative).

* you can use a hand sanitizer, which is mostly alcohol, or an effective substitute is Aloe Gel. Aloe is an excellent anti-bacterial and is also a wonderful skin lotion, where as alcohol can be drying.

* the following herbs have proven beneficial in the treatment of MRSA:

For Pneumonia: usnea, garlic, goldenseal, cryptolepsis, eucalyptus, boneset, wormwood, juniper, grapefruit seed extract, oils of thyme or oregano and olive leaf extract.

For surgical/skin infections: any of the above plus honey or sage.

For Bacteremia: echinacea, garlic, usnea or boneset, all given in massive doses.

* A complementary treatment that should not be overlooked is LIGHT THERAPY. A blue light with a frequency of 470nm (nanometers) has been shown to kill MRSA in as little as 2 minutes when shown on the skin at the infection site. This is an extremely useful therapy for those exposed to this infection. Please contact a CAM practitioner for more information on light therapy and other therapies for the treatment of MRSA and other health conditions.

MRSA is a serious medical condition that, unfortunately, has become more prevalent in recent years as this bacteria becomes more resistant to antibiotics.

Research;
ClinicalIt has been reported that maggot therapy to clean out necrotic tissue of MRSA infection has been successful. Studies in diabetic patients reported significantly shorter treatment times than those achieved with standard treatments.

Many antibiotics against MRSA are in phase II and phase III clinical trials. e.g.:

Phase III : ceftobiprole, Ceftaroline, Dalbavancin, Telavancin, Aurograb, torezolid, iclaprim…
Phase II : nemonoxacin.

Pre-clinicalAn entirely different and promising approach is phage therapy (e.g., at the Eliava Institute in Georgia[98]), which in mice had a reported efficacy against up to 95% of tested Staphylococcus isolates.

On May 18, 2006, a report in Nature identified a new antibiotic, called platensimycin, that had demonstrated successful use against MRSA.

Ocean-dwelling living sponges produce compounds that may make MRSA more susceptible to antibiotics.

Cannabinoids (components of Cannabis sativa), including cannabidiol (CBD), cannabinol (CBN), cannabichromene (CBC) and cannabigerol (CBG), show activity against a variety of MRSA strains.

Disclaimer: This information is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advise or help. It is always best to consult with a Physician about serious health concerns. This information is in no way intended to diagnose or prescribe remedies.This is purely for educational purpose

Resources:
http://www.healthalternativesonline.com/MRSA.html
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mrsa/DS00735
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methicillin-resistant_Staphylococcus_aureus
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/physical_health/conditions/mrsa.shtml

http://www.cdc.gov/mrsa/mrsa_initiative/skin_infection/mrsa_photo_003.html

http://www.suite101.com/view_image_articles.cfm/1307955

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News on Health & Science

Are There Deadly Superbugs in Your Pork?

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Scientists have detected antibiotic-resistant bacteria in pork, pigs and some veterinarians. It is possible that these so-called superbugs could infect farmworkers or even people who eat pork.

Antibiotic-resistant bugs were found in more than 7 percent of over 100 swine veterinarians tested. The same bacterial strains were found in nearly 50 percent of 300 tested pigs.

Perhaps of greatest concern, the bacteria were also found in 10 percent of more than 200 samples of ground pork and pork chops collected from four Canadian provinces.

An estimated 18,650 deaths a year in the U.S. are estimated to be caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.


Sources:
Organic Consumers Association June 16, 2008

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Ailmemts & Remedies

Methicilling Restsant Staph Aureus (MRSA)

Description:
MRSA is a strain of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteria. S. aureus is a common type of bacteria that normally live on the skin and sometimes in the nasal passages of healthy people. MRSA refers to S. aureus strains that do not respond to some of the antibiotics used to treat staph infections

The bacteria can cause infection when they enter the body through a cut, sore, catheter, or breathing tube. The infection can be minor and local (for example, a pimple), or more serious (involving the heart, lung, blood, or bone).

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MRSA infections are grouped into two types:

•Healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) infections occur in people who are or have recently been in a hospital or other health-care facility. Those who have been hospitalized or had surgery within the past year are at increased risk. MRSA bacteria are responsible for a large percentage of hospital-acquired staph infections.

Community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) infections occur in otherwise healthy people who have not recently been in the hospital. The infections have occurred among athletes who share equipment or personal items (such as towels or razors) and children in daycare facilities. Members of the military and those who get tattoos are also at risk. The number of CA-MRSA cases is increasing.

Serious staph infections are more common in people with weak immune systems. This includes patients have been in hospitals or other health care centrs, such as nursing homes and dialysis centers. When a person gets from  these settings, it’s known as health care-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA). HA-MRSA infections typically are associated with invasive procedures or devices, such as surgeries, intravenous tubing or artificial joints.

A much wider community among the healthy people gets MRSA infection. This form, community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA), often begins as a painful skin boil. It’s spread by skin-to-skin contact. At-risk populations include groups such as high school wrestlers, child care workers and people who live in crowded conditions, living togather with infected people.

Signs and symptoms:

Staph skin infections, including MRSA, generally start as small red bumps that resemble pimples, boils or spider bites. These can quickly turn into deep, painful abscesses that require surgical draining. Sometimes the bacteria remain confined to the skin. But they can also burrow deep into the body, causing potentially life-threatening infections in bones, joints, surgical wounds, the bloodstream, heart valves and lungs.

Other symptoms may include:
•Drainage of pus or other fluids from the site
•FeverFever
•Skin abscessSkin abscess
•Warmth around the infected area

Symptoms of a more serious staph infection may include:

•Chest painChest pain
•ChillsChills
•Cough
•Fatigue
•Fever
•General ill feeling (malaisemalaise)
•Headache
•Muscle achesMuscle aches
•RashRash
•Shortness of breathShortness of breath
MRSA infections start out as small red bumps that can quickly turn into deep, painful abscesses.

Sometimes the bacteria remain confined to the skin. But they can also burrow deep into the body, causing potentially life-threatening infections in bones, joints, surgical wounds, the bloodstream, heart valves and lungs.

Causes:-
Anyone can get a Staph infection. People are more likely to get a Staph infection if they have:

*Skin-to-skin contact with someone who has a Staph infection

*Contact with items and surfaces that have Staph on them

*Openings in their skin such as cuts or scrapes

*Crowded living conditions

* Poor hygiene

Most Staph skin infections are minor and may be easily treated. Staph also may cause more serious infections, such as infections of the bloodstream, surgical sites, or pneumonia. Sometimes, a Staph infection that starts as a skin infection may worsen. It is important to contact your doctor if your infection does not get better.

Although the survival tactics of bacteria contribute to antibiotic resistance, humans bear most of the responsibility for the problem. Leading causes of antibiotic resistance include:

*Unnecessary antibiotic use in humans. Like other superbugs, MRSA is the result of decades of excessive and unnecessary antibiotic use. For years, antibiotics have been prescribed for colds, flu and other viral infections that don’t respond to these drugs, as well as for simple bacterial infections that normally clear on their own.

*Antibiotics in food and water. Prescription drugs aren’t the only source of antibiotics. In the United States, antibiotics can be found in beef cattle, pigs and chickens. The same antibiotics then find their way into municipal water systems when the runoff from feedlots contaminates streams and groundwater. Routine feeding of antibiotics to animals is banned in the European Union and many other industrialized countries. Antibiotics given in the proper doses to animals who are sick don’t appear to produce resistant bacteria.

*Germ mutation. Even when antibiotics are used appropriately, they contribute to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria because they don’t destroy every germ they target. Bacteria live on an evolutionary fast track, so germs that survive treatment with one antibiotic soon learn to resist others. And because bacteria mutate much more quickly than new drugs can be produced, some germs end up resistant to just about everything. That’s why only a handful of drugs are now effective against most forms of staph.

Risk factors:-
Because hospital and community strains of MRSA generally occur in different settings, the risk factors for the two strains differ.

Risk factors for hospital-acquired (HA) MRSA include:

*A current or recent hospitalization. MRSA remains a concern in hospitals, where it can attack those most vulnerable — older adults and people with weakened immune systems, burns, surgical wounds or serious underlying health problems. A 2007 report from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology estimates that 1.2 million hospital patients are infected with MRSA each year in the United States. They also estimate another 423,000 are colonized with it.

*Residing in a long-term care facility. MRSA is far more prevalent in these facilities than it is in hospitals. Carriers of MRSA have the ability to spread it, even if they’re not sick themselves.

*Invasive devices. People who are on dialysis, are catheterized, or have feeding tubes or other invasive devices are at higher risk.

*Recent antibiotic use.
Treatment with fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin or levofloxacin) or cephalosporin antibiotics can increase the risk of HA-MRSA.

These are the main risk factors for community-acquired (CA) MRSA:

*Young age. CA-MRSA can be particularly dangerous in children. Often entering the body through a cut or scrape, MRSA can quickly cause a wide spread infection. Children may be susceptible because their immune systems aren’t fully developed or they don’t yet have antibodies to common germs. Children and young adults are also much more likely to develop dangerous forms of pneumonia than older people are.

*Participating in contact sports. CA-MRSA has crept into both amateur and professional sports teams. The bacteria spread easily through cuts and abrasions and skin-to-skin contact.

*Sharing towels or athletic equipment. Although few outbreaks have been reported in public gyms, CA-MRSA has spread among athletes sharing razors, towels, uniforms or equipment.

*Having a weakened immune system. People with weakened immune systems, including those living with HIV/AIDS, are more likely to have severe CA-MRSA infections.

*Living in crowded or unsanitary conditions. Outbreaks of CA-MRSA have occurred in military training camps and in American and European prisons.

*Association with health care workers. People who are in close contact with health care workers are at increased risk of serious staph infections.

Diagnosis:-
Doctors diagnose MRSA by checking a tissue sample or nasal secretions for signs of drug-resistant bacteria. The sample is sent to a lab where it’s placed in a dish of nutrients that encourage bacterial growth (culture). But because it takes about 48 hours for the bacteria to grow, newer tests that can detect staph DNA in a matter of hours are now becoming more widely available.

In the hospital, you may be tested for MRSA if you show signs of infection or if you are transferred into a hospital from another healthcare setting where MRSA is known to be present. You may also be tested if you have had a previous history of MRSA.

Treatment:-
Treatment for a Staph skin infection may include taking an antibiotic or having a doctor drain the infection. If you are given an antibiotic, be sure to take all of the doses, even if the infection is getting better, unless your doctor tells you to stop taking it. Do not share antibiotics with other people or save them to use later.

Both hospital and community associated strains of MRSA still respond to certain medications. In hospitals and care facilities, doctors generally rely on the antibiotic vancomycin to treat resistant germs. CA-MRSA may be treated with vancomycin or other antibiotics that have proved effective against particular strains. Although vancomycin saves lives, it may grow resistant as well; some hospitals are already seeing outbreaks of vancomycin-resistant MRSA. To help reduce that threat, doctors may drain an abscess caused by MRSA rather than treat the infection with drugs.

How do I keep Staph infections from spreading?

Wash your hands often or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer
Keep your cuts and scrapes clean and cover them with bandages
Do not touch other people’s cuts or bandages

Do not share personal items like towels or razors.

Prevention:-

Hospitals are fighting back against MRSA infection by using surveillance systems that track bacterial outbreaks and by investing in products such as antibiotic-coated catheters and gloves that release disinfectants.

Still, the best way to prevent the spread of germs is for health care workers to wash their hands frequently, to properly disinfect hospital surfaces and to take other precautions such as wearing a mask when working with people with weakened immune systems.

In the hospital, people who are infected or colonized with MRSA are placed in isolation to prevent the spread of MRSA to other patients and healthcare workers.Visitors and healthcare workers caring for isolated patients may be required to wear protective garments and must follow strict handwashing procedures.

What you can do in the hospital
Here’s what you can do to protect yourself, family members or friends from hospital-acquired infections.

*Ask all hospital staff to wash their hands or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer before touching you — every time.
Wash your own hands frequently.

*Make sure that intravenous tubes and catheters are inserted under sterile conditions, for example, the person inserting them wears a mask and sterilizes your skin first.

What you can do in your community:-
Protecting yourself from MRSA in your community — which might be just about anywhere — may seem daunting, but these

common-sense precautions can help reduce your risk:

*Wash your hands. Careful hand washing or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer remains your best defense against germs. Scrub hands briskly for at least 15 seconds, then dry them with a disposable towel and use another towel to turn off the faucet. Carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer containing at least 62 percent alcohol for times when you don’t have access to soap and water.

*Keep personal items personal. Avoid sharing personal items such as towels, sheets, razors, clothing and athletic equipment. MRSA spreads on contaminated objects as well as through direct contact.
*Keep wounds covered. Keep cuts and abrasions clean and covered with sterile, dry bandages until they heal. The pus from infected sores may contain MRSA, and keeping wounds covered will help keep the bacteria from spreading.
Shower after athletic games or practices. Shower immediately after each game or practice. Use soap and water. Don’t share towels.

*Sit out athletic games or practices if you have a concerning infection
. If you have a wound that’s draining or appears infected — for example is red, swollen, warm to the touch or tender — consider sitting out athletic games or practices until the wound has healed.

*Sanitize linens. If you have a cut or sore, wash towels and bed linens in a washing machine set to the “hot” water setting (with added bleach, if possible) and dry them in a hot dryer. Wash gym and athletic clothes after each wearing.

*Get tested. If you have a skin infection that requires treatment, ask your doctor if you should be tested for MRSA. Doctors may prescribe drugs that aren’t effective against antibiotic-resistant staph, which delays treatment and creates more resistant germs. Testing specifically for MRSA may get you the specific antibiotic you need to effectively treat your infection.

*Use antibiotics appropriately. When you’re prescribed an antibiotic, take all of the doses, even if the infection is getting better. Don’t stop until your doctor tells you to stop. Don’t share antibiotics with others or save unfinished antibiotics for another time. Inappropriate use of antibiotics, including not taking all of your prescription and overuse, contributes to resistance. If your infection isn’t improving after a few days of taking an antibiotic, contact your doctor.

Disclaimer: This information is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advise or help. It is always best to consult with a Physician about serious health concerns. This information is in no way intended to diagnose or prescribe remedies.This is purely for educational purpose

Resources:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mrsa/DS00735/DSECTION=4
http://www.kidsgrowth.com/resources/articledetail.cfm?id=2357

http://www.ronjones.org/Weblinks/MRSA-Photos.html

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007261.htm

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