A Killer In The Community

What would you say if you knew an infectious disease which kills more people annually than AIDS, spreads by both skin to skin and airborne routes, and is resistant to all commonly used antibiotics was loose within the community? You'd doubtless want to know what public health authorities were doing about this. Well, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus or MRSA causes such infections and has gone from a predominantly hospital - acquired to a community - acquired infection as well. Despite the recent stories from the NFL about players infected with MRSA, the disease gets far too little attention, especially when compared with the brouhaha over Obamacare or the latest exploits of Miley Cyrus. The real scary news is that tracking by public health authorities is not universal. This seems absurd.

How did this condition get out of hand? It did so over many years, as we got complacent over the ease with which infectious diseases were handled by antibiotics. To be sure, there were outbreaks of occasionally resistant bugs but by and large, this was not a widespread problem. So we tended to reach for the Z-Pak or Amoxicillin for almost any respiratory illness, abandon old-fashioned topical antiseptics like iodine for neosporin ointment for cuts and scrapes, secure in the knowledge that our antibiotics would be successful. Unfortunately, bacteria are nothing if not resourceful and developed resistance over many generations as the susceptible strains fell by the wayside, leaving only the hardier strains intact. Moreover, antibiotic overuse, not only for illness but also in animal feed, played havoc with the body's normal flora, upsetting a balance which formed another line of defense.

While new promising treatments are on the horizon and work continues apace on vaccines, there are many who need help today and many more others potentially in harms way. What can we do? First, don't ask your doctor to prescribe an antibiotic for a cold. First, it won't work and second, this is what got us here in the first place. And don't think your physician a bad doctor because he or she won't reach for that prescription pad. Your doctor's trying to help you. In the long run, you'll thank him.

If you get a cut, wash it out with soap and water, one of our best antiseptic combinations. Grandma's iodine from the medicine cabinet would be a far better antiseptic than that new tube of neosporin.

If you belong to a gym, ask the manager about their cleaning regimens. Ideally, equipment and mats should be wiped down between uses to lessen the likelihood of skin to skin contact between patrons. It might pay to bring your own lysol wipes too, as well as your own clean towel, etc.

Finally, if ever there were a condition in need of a celebrity spokesperson, it's MRSA. This disease has been under the radar for far too long. We had and have countless celebrities raising AIDS awareness, but MRSA now kills more than AIDS. We need a MRSA spokesperson, a MRSA global fund, a MRSA telethon. Bill and Melinda Gates, please call your office.