By: Danielle Kahn, Collegian Staff
12/4/07
12/4/07
A new threat to college students has emerged known as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. It has gained attention ever since a student died from it in October.
MRSA is a strand of Staph infection that has so far shown to be resistant to antibiotics, and was originally bacteria generally only found in hospitals. But a new strand has developed that is now found in the community, known as (CA) MRSA.
The Staph bacteria can be found on the skin or in the nose of close to one third of the population. If someone has the bacteria, but isn't sick, he is still susceptible to spreading it to others. Symptoms include red bumps that resemble pimples or spider bites, but eventually turn into painful abscesses that are red, swollen, or warm. But one of the deadly aspects of MRSA is that it is capable of entering the bloodstream. This can cause life-threatening infections in bones, joints, bloodstreams, heart valves and lungs. Symptoms of this are fever, hot, painful wounds, headache, tiredness and others.
One of the major reasons people develop MRSA is because of improper antibiotic use. Now, doctors assign antibiotics to all infections and colds that don't necessarily require antibiotics to cure. Livestock is also filled with antibiotics, which is soon eaten. Misuse of antibiotics given to the animals can also lead to tainted water. Because of all of this, antibiotics have been consumed and allowed the bacteria within to become immune to them.
While immune systems are filled with unnecessary antibiotics, it is easy to pick up MRSA from other people. It is possible to catch the hospital strain by just staying in a hospital. But the community strain can be caught by interacting with friends in the simplest of ways. Two of the major ways are playing a contact sport or sharing towels or athletic equipment.
Any cuts or open wounds that are received while playing a sport are susceptible to passing or receiving MRSA from someone else who doesn't know that MRSA is present. And even though there have not been a large amount of outbreaks recorded in public gyms from sharing the machines, there have been cases reported from sharing razors, towels, or uniforms.
Public health nurse Anne Becker at the University Health Services at the University of Massachusetts believes that students are no more prone to the infection than anyone else.
"We've been seeing cases of MRSA for the last couple of years now and our numbers are on par with the rest of the state's," she said. "The good thing is that all the cases have responded well to treatment. The infection is out there now and we have to deal with it."
Becker also believes that athletes are more susceptible to MRSA because their skin takes a beating, but that is the same everywhere. She also stresses the incredible importance of not sharing personal items to avoid MRSA.
MRSA is a strand of Staph infection that has so far shown to be resistant to antibiotics, and was originally bacteria generally only found in hospitals. But a new strand has developed that is now found in the community, known as (CA) MRSA.
The Staph bacteria can be found on the skin or in the nose of close to one third of the population. If someone has the bacteria, but isn't sick, he is still susceptible to spreading it to others. Symptoms include red bumps that resemble pimples or spider bites, but eventually turn into painful abscesses that are red, swollen, or warm. But one of the deadly aspects of MRSA is that it is capable of entering the bloodstream. This can cause life-threatening infections in bones, joints, bloodstreams, heart valves and lungs. Symptoms of this are fever, hot, painful wounds, headache, tiredness and others.
One of the major reasons people develop MRSA is because of improper antibiotic use. Now, doctors assign antibiotics to all infections and colds that don't necessarily require antibiotics to cure. Livestock is also filled with antibiotics, which is soon eaten. Misuse of antibiotics given to the animals can also lead to tainted water. Because of all of this, antibiotics have been consumed and allowed the bacteria within to become immune to them.
While immune systems are filled with unnecessary antibiotics, it is easy to pick up MRSA from other people. It is possible to catch the hospital strain by just staying in a hospital. But the community strain can be caught by interacting with friends in the simplest of ways. Two of the major ways are playing a contact sport or sharing towels or athletic equipment.
Any cuts or open wounds that are received while playing a sport are susceptible to passing or receiving MRSA from someone else who doesn't know that MRSA is present. And even though there have not been a large amount of outbreaks recorded in public gyms from sharing the machines, there have been cases reported from sharing razors, towels, or uniforms.
Public health nurse Anne Becker at the University Health Services at the University of Massachusetts believes that students are no more prone to the infection than anyone else.
"We've been seeing cases of MRSA for the last couple of years now and our numbers are on par with the rest of the state's," she said. "The good thing is that all the cases have responded well to treatment. The infection is out there now and we have to deal with it."
Becker also believes that athletes are more susceptible to MRSA because their skin takes a beating, but that is the same everywhere. She also stresses the incredible importance of not sharing personal items to avoid MRSA.
