Categories: MRSA, Hospitals, Health, CDC, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus or MRSA claims approximately 5000 lives a year—and that more than 125,000 hospitalizations are MRSA-related.  The antibiotic resistant bacteria strain is a prevalent problem at health facilities and hospitals across the world.

At Newark Beth Israel Medical Center's intensive care unit, patients endure an "active surveillance" (a culture taken from the nose).  Since the culture exceeds the norm, a majority of American hospitals are reluctant to swallow the cost of such testing.  (That's equivalent to $25-to $30/per patient).  However, the MRSA epidemic costs the health industry $4 billion a year.  These costs are eventually passed onto the patient/consumer.

Instead of incorporating active surveillance, other hospitals ask patients MRSA-related questions.  Prior to an admission at Chicago's Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation/Hospital, patients are asked 5-questions to determine their risk of MSRA.  According to the CDC, roughly, a third to a fourth of the United States population has methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus without any symptoms.  While the MRSA infection continues to plague hospitals, there are a few ways to avoid it:

•       Wash hands as often as possible

•       Never share face clothes, towels, razors or other toiletries

•       Avoid sitting on public toilets

•       Change bedding a minimum of once a week.

•       Keep any scrapes, cuts or wounds sanitized, dry as well as covered with a gauze or bandage

•       During medical visits, make sure health professional wash their hands

•       Inflamed, swollen bumps (with or without pus) that bear the resemblance of a spider bite and do not diminish require medical attention.

Read More alertsforconsumers.com consumer information 


By Holly Bentz (c) 2007fruitionMedia.net