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Here is a load of crap, pajamas that is designed to protect against MRSA by incorporating silver into its fabric at a level of 2%.

They claim that by having 2% silver woven into its fabric, it can protect against the hospital super bug MRSA. It has already gone on sale UK with M&S the first British retailer to stock the £45 Sleep Safe pajamas and is trialing them at 100 stores.

Silver is known for its infection-fighting properties and silver-laced nightwear has already been tested in a handful of hospitals.

But campaigners called the pajamas a gimmick and said the only way to tackle MRSA was by making hospitals cleaner.

MRSA

MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is a bacterium that can live completely harmlessly on the skin of healthy people but can lead to serious infection.

MRSA infections can cause a broad range of symptoms depending on the part of the body that is infected. These may include surgical wounds, burns, catheter sites, eye, skin and blood.

Dr Mark Enright, a microbiologist at Imperial College London, said that the pajamas would reduce the risk of a patient getting a skin infection that enters a wound.

The problem lies within the hospitals. They are dirty and it should not be up to the public to safeguard themselves

Tony Kitchen of MRSA Support

A spokesman for M&S said: “The fabric that the pajamas are made of has been clinically proven to reduce the risk of MRSA by killing bacteria that come into contact with the fabric.

“Clinical trials are currently ongoing and are three quarters of the way through. The interim results were positive.”

They are only available for men at present and are produced using a fabric which 2% silver has woven into it.

Katherine Murphy, from the Patients’ Association, said: “We welcome the fact these are going on sale, but it shows how desperate the public is.”

However, Tony Kitchen of MRSA Support said: “It sounds like a gimmick - it cannot be a super suit and probably doesn’t make a jot of difference.

“The problem lies within the hospitals. They are dirty and it should not be up to the public to safeguard themselves, it’s the ethos of the hospital that needs to change.”

A spokesman added that if the pajamas did prove effective then they ought to be provided by the health service. rather than paid for by the patient.

On the morning during August, several students from Northern Lehigh High School showed symptoms of staphylococcus infections or possibly respiratory “walking pneumonia.”

Later in the day, Principal Aileen Yadush wrote a letter to parents and had it posted on the school district’s Web site under a bold red link reading, “Alert!: Staphylococcus Infection Letter.”

The letter mentions the source of the infections was unclear but they narrowed it down to the school’s field house weight room.

The field house was closed and a professional cleaning crew was hired to scrub every surface and every piece of equipment.

The letter explained what type of bacteria it is - staphylococcus aureus, how to look for symptoms and what to do in case something unusual is found on students’ bodies.

The letter also assured parents and students “we will take every possible precaution in maintaining their safety and health.” which is a bold statement.

In a recent environmental survey conducted by University of Arizona researchers, surfaces in teachers’ classrooms came in as the Number 1 workplace for germs which is nearly 20 times higher than those found in lawyers’ offices, and seven times higher than doctors’ offices.

With over 2,000 parents questioned in the survey, 14 percent said they send their children to school despite running a fever higher than 100 degrees.

Educating children on proper hand washing and taking basic sanitation measures could hold down the germ level.

Bethlehem Health Bureau Director Judy Maloney says the bureau and local schools work clean-hand in clean-hand using a program called Germ City: Clean Hands, Healthy People.

The bureau also mailed a letter to principals at elementary and middle schools.

That letter urges schools to contact parents and let them know how important it is to keep sick children home.

Dr. Bonnie Coyle, director of St. Luke’s Hospital’s Community Health Department in Fountain Hill, says direct education programs are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to corral germs.

“If there is a child that has a disease that is a community health threat,” she says, “we get involved.”

In New Jersey, Mary Van Horn, supervisor of the Warren County Board of Health in Washington, says, “My department focuses on flu and pneumonia immunization, but good hand washing is so important.”

Coyle ventures one reason why.

“I think we’re seeing more emerging infectious disease threats,” Coyle says. “As the world becomes smaller through international travel, we’re seeing more drug-resistant tuberculosis. Then there are the things that have always been there (flu, staphylococcus, meningitis and other infectious diseases.)”

Coyle also says that since the 9/11 terrorism attacks, bioterrorism is becoming an issue.

“It’s certainly not a crisis,” she soothes, “but it’s something schools need to keep in mind.”

Source

According to the Japanese Times, a 1 year old boy in the Kanto region of Japan died of severe pneumonia last year after being infected with a highly virulent strain of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), medical professionals said Sunday.

This was the first time that a fatal case was confirmed in Japan resulting from infection with community-associated MRSA, whose contagion within a community or a school has been feared, they said.

Community associated MRSA as opposed to the more common hospital associated MRSA has already become a big issue in Europe and the United States but has gained little public attention in Japan.

“We do not have to worry too much about it because a highly virulent strain is rare within community-associated types, but we need to strengthen monitoring activities to prepare for greater infection with the bacteria,” said Tatsuo Yamamoto, a professor of bacteriology at Niigata University.

According to Kitasato University Hospital in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, where the boy was treated, he exhibited symptoms such as a fever and coughing and was diagnosed with pneumonia at a different general hospital. He was later admitted to Kitasato University Hospital and received treatment that included antibiotics, but he died about 10 days later. The antibiotics resistant staphylococcus was found in his blood sample.

While the boy had never been hospitalized before, a laboratory test showed that the genetic structure of the bacteria found in his blood matched that of community associated MRSA and that the strain was highly virulent, capable of producing a toxin that kills white blood cells, according to the hospital.

It is not clear how the bacteria got into him.

“It is known that MRSA has a community associated type, but this is the first time that I have encountered a strain as highly virulent as this,” said Yuki Bando, a lecturer at Kitasato University Hospital’s pediatric department. “The existence of a highly virulent strain has hardly been recognized in the medical field, so I would like to call attention to it.”

MRSA has been commonly known as the major bacteria which infects patients in hospitals around the world, but concerns have been expressed in recent years that infections could also occur outside hospitals.

It is believed that people could be infected with MRSA through skin contact during sports and communal life.

So far, the types of community-associated MRSA found in Japan are known to have caused rashes on the skin, but some cases have been reported in which people suffered seriously due to highly virulent strains of MRSA.

Worldwide, highly virulent strains have caused major infections. A series of fatal causes were reported in France and the United States in the late 1990s, prompting concerns about the spread of community-associated MRSA.

Source

According to Lisa Finneran from the DAILY PRESS (NEWPORT NEWS, VA.), the rise of Drug-Resistant Staphylococcus Infections is growing worst each day. She writes:

“Kathleen Jaeger thought she had survived the worst condition of her life: a breast cancer diagnosis, chemotherapy and a double mastectomy.

Although the community-contracted bacterium is resistant to many drugs, there are some older drugs in the penicillin family that can successfully combat the bug.”

Source

In a new study, researchers from a university hospital in Texas describe the clinical features of pregnant women with community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection, an emerging problem at their center.

As it turns out, both the presentation and management of MRSA infection in pregnant women is not that much different from what occurs in non-pregnant women, lead author Dr. Vanessa R. Laibl, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, told Reuters Health.

“Clinicians should look for pregnant women who come in with folliculitis, skin abscesses, or breast abscesses,” Dr. Laibl said. “The women will often attribute it to an insect bite without ever being able to identify the insect. They may report other affected family members and the lesions will tend to be recurrent. These findings should prompt the clinician to perform a culture for MRSA.”

The treatment of MRSA in pregnant women is pretty much the same as in non-pregnant women, surgical drainage of the abscess coupled with antibiotic therapy. However, “we do avoid using levofloxacin and tetracycline’s in pregnant women,” Dr. Laibl noted. “For outpatient therapy, we typically use trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, whereas for inpatient therapy, we give vancomycin.”

As for obstetrical outcomes, Dr. Laibl said that “pregnant women with MRSA fare just as well as women without this infection. They don’t get chorioamnionitis any more often” and other outcomes appear comparable as well.

The new findings, which appear in the September issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology, are based on a chart review of pregnant patients who were diagnosed with MRSA infection at the researchers’ center between January 1, 2000 and July 30, 2004. At total of 57 cases were identified, including 2 in 2000, 4 in 2001, 11 in 2002, 23 in 2003, and 17 through July 2004. “Although there may have been some ascertainment bias, there does seem to be a rise in cases,” Dr. Laibl commented.

Ninety-six percent of cases involved skin and soft tissue infections, most commonly in the extremities. Most patients required inpatient treatment and most patients had recurrent episodes of infection. HIV infection and asthma were common comorbid conditions, present in 13% and 11% of cases, respectively.

MRSA isolates were invariably sensitive to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, vancomycin, and rifampin and were usually sensitive to gentamicin and levofloxacin.

Obstet Gynecology 2005;106:461-465

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has established standards for the composition and shelf stability of various ready-to-eat meat products. These standards may include product pH, moisture:protein ratio, and water activity (aw) values. It is unclear how closely these standards are based on the potential for pathogen growth or toxin production. Because the vacuum packaging used on most ready-to-eat meat products inhibits mold, Staphylococcus aureus is the pathogen most likely to grow on products with reduced aw and increased percentage of water-phase salt. In this study, 34 samples of various ready-to-eat meat products were inoculated with a three-strain mixture of S. aureus, vacuum packaged, and stored at 21 degrees C for 4 weeks. S. aureus numbers decreased by 1.1 to 5.6 log CFU on fermented products (pH < or = 5.1) with a wide range of salt concentrations and moisture content. Similarly, S. aureus numbers decreased by 3.2 to 4.5 log CFU on dried non-acidified jerky (aw < or = 0.82; moisture:protein ratio of < or =0.8). Products that were not fermented or dried clearly supported S. aureus growth and cannot be considered shelf stable. The product pH and moisture:protein ratio were the two compositional factors most highly correlated (R2 = 0.84) with S. aureus survival and growth for the types of products tested, but pH and aw or pH and percentage of water-phase salt also may provide useful predictive guidance (R2 = 0.81 and 0.77, respectively).

Journal of Food Protection 2005 Sep;68(9):1911-5
Ingham HC et al
Department of Food Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA. scingham@wisc.edu

In response to the need for an accurate, easy-to-use and cost effective identification system for medically important Staphylococci, Microgen
Bioproducts announces the release of Microgenâ„¢ Staph ID.

The Microgenâ„¢ Staph ID identifies all species of Staphylococcus related to humans, both as commensals, opportunistic pathogens, and
established pathogens. The kit may also be used to identify species of environmental and animal health significance. The Microgenâ„¢ Staph ID test panel consists of 13 biochemical tests specifically formulated to identify the target group of organisms. When used in conjunction with a coagulase or Staphylococcal latex agglutination test, these test panels provide identification of Staphylococci within 24 hours of inoculation. The interpretation of results is provided with an easy-to-use computer database employing up-to-date taxonomy. Regular updates to the software are available at no charge for customers registered as software users. Each kit contains sufficient test panels for 20 identifications.

The Microgenâ„¢ Staph ID is quick to set up and simple to read, providing a very effective means of identifying these organisms which are often simply classified as Coagulase Negative Staphylococci because existing methods are both laborious and expensive.

This is the latest addition to the family of innovative Microgen ID systems including Gram Negative Bacilli, Listeria spp and Bacillus spp. Staphylococci can cause many forms of infection from superficial skin lesions to deep seated infections such as endocarditis. Staphylococcus species are a major cause of nosocomial infections and coagulase negative Staphylococci are increasingly associated with indwelling medical devices.

For more information contact Vital Diagnostics. Email info@vitaldiagnostics.com.
Website: www.vitaldiagnostics.com.