Prevent Yourself from MRSA Infection
During i was surfing an Internet today, i looked to the headline health news of WebMD.
More U.S. Deaths From MRSA Than AIDS from WebMD News
First, i don’t know about MRSA. After pay attention to read this news. I found it is very importance to us. Everyone should know about MRSA.
MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)infection is caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria — often called “staph.” Decades ago, a strain of staph emerged in hospitals that was resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it. Dubbed methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), it was one of the first germs to outwit all but the most powerful drugs. MRSA infection can be fatal.
Staph bacteria are normally found on the skin or in the nose of about one-third of the population. If you have staph on your skin or in your nose but aren’t sick, you are said to be “colonized” but not infected with MRSA. Healthy people can be colonized with MRSA and have no ill effects, however, they can pass the germ to others.
Staph bacteria are generally harmless unless they enter the body through a cut or other wound, and even then they often cause only minor skin problems in healthy people. But in older adults and people who are ill or have weakened immune systems, ordinary staph infections can cause serious illness called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA.
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.
All above that some cause, we do not avoidable and it related to living our life. e.g. go to the hospital, community places and our home.
After completed reading, i google to find more informations about MRSA. I found we can prevents our from MRSA infections by ourselves. Here, this is simple tips that we can do.
What you can do
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 before touching you — every time.
- Wash your own hands frequently.
- Ask to be bathed with disposable cloths treated with a disinfectant rather than with soap and water.
- Make sure that intravenous tubes and catheters are inserted and removed under sterile conditions; some hospitals have dramatically reduced MRSA blood infections simply by sterilizing patients’ skin before using catheters.
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.
Preventing CA-MRSA(for community-acquired, or community-associated Staphylococcus aureus)
Protecting yourself from CA-MRSA — which might be just about anywhere — may seem daunting, but these common-sense precautions can help reduce your risk:
- 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 often contains MRSA, and keeping wounds covered will help keep the bacteria from spreading.
- Sanitize linens.
If you have a cut or sore, wash towels and bed linens in hot water with added bleach and dry them in a hot dryer. Wash gym and athletic clothes after each wearing.
- Wash your hands.
In or out of the hospital, careful hand washing 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.
- Get tested.
If you have a skin infection that requires treatment, ask your doctor if you should be tested for MRSA. Many doctors prescribe drugs that aren’t effective against antibiotic-resistant staph, which delays treatment and creates more resistant germs.
So easy to avoid it. Hope this writing will helps you prevent from MRSA infection.
Tags: Healthy, Healthy Lifestyle, living, Medicine, MRSA, MRSA Infection