Sludge Watch ==> Staph Problems - Persistant Infections Showing Up Everywhere

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin:

As we see from other Sludge Watch posts, there is increasing use of sewage 
sludge composts on athletic fields.  This placement of sludge compost or 
decomposing sludge pellets may be distribution antibiotic resistant 
organisms onto playing fields and into the community.

for more info look at:
Overlooked aspects concerning development and spread of antimicrobial 
resistance
L Guardabassi, H Kruse


http://www.hmd-cms.hr/CESAR_Brijuni_2003.pdf





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http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/health/staph.html


INDEPTH: HEALTH
Staph problems: Persistent infections showing up everywhere

CBC News Online | July 28, 2006


One of the most common everyday bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus usually 
lives harmlessly on human skin.

But give it an opening — a cut, a deep abrasion, even a turf burn — and a 
staph infection can take a much more serious turn, putting even superbly 
conditioned athletes out of commission for long stretches.

The Toronto Blue Jays are learning of this bug's viciousness. They've been 
without slugger Alex Rios for a month after he was sent to rehab with a 
pus-filled staph infection in his lower left leg. Pitcher Ty Taubenheim came 
down with a similar infection on his foot and he now is on the disabled list 
as well.

The Blue Jays took the unusual step of disinfecting their entire clubhouse — 
whirlpool, weight room, shower stalls, the works — and calling in the health 
inspectors for a close look.

They didn't find anything, which suggests perhaps a bigger problem.

The superbug phenomenon

Public health officials are now saying that some of the most hardcore cases 
of staph infections have jumped the antibiotic barrier and should be viewed 
as superbugs.

What's worse, they seem to be popping up in so many unforeseen places that 
they have been given the description "community acquired," as in 
community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or CA-MRSA 
to the initiated, a legitimate public health worry.

The hospital version of MRSA has long been known to physicians and is one of 
the main reasons public hospitals have stepped up infection control and 
hand-washing regimes in recent years.

Still, thousands of cases are reported annually, and it can be one of the 
leading causes of hospital deaths as staph infections take advantage of 
those with serious illnesses or compromised immune systems.

But the community-acquired version is a newer phenomenon. Staph infections 
are no longer just springing from the obvious places like hospital wards, 
prisons and tattoo parlours. More and more they are showing up in 
professional and high school sports teams as well as in daycares and, 
according to the New York Times this week, communal yoga centres — virtually 
everywhere that sweat is exchanged.

Some researchers say these new strains originated in Australia, though they 
have now spread worldwide. The first big outbreak among pro sports teams 
took place in 2003.

In that year alone, five members of the St. Louis Rams football team, four 
members of the University of Southern California football team, a Miami 
Dolphin and at least half a dozen kids on high school football, wrestling 
and fencing teams in the U.S. were hospitalized with versions of staph 
infection, in some cases life-threatening, according to news reports.

One of the more interesting followup studies suggested that pro athletes may 
be infected by the more virulent strains of the bacteria because they tend 
to take more antibiotics over the course of their careers and acquire a 
higher level of antibiotic resistance.

Today, according to a just published article and commentaries in the 
Canadian Medical Association Journal, community-acquired staph infections, 
the kind that affect otherwise healthy individuals outside of hospital 
settings, are on the rise in a number of provinces.

"It's sweeping across the nation, no doubt about it," Dr. John Conly, a 
Calgary-based expert in infectious disease told the Canadian Press. "I think 
this is a pan-Canadian problem."

Symptoms and treatments

The two most virulent strains of community-acquired staph infections — 
strains known as US300 and US400 — are the two hardest to treat. Like 
others, they often show up as minor skin problems, or sores in the soft 
tissue of the mouth or nose that form blisters or pus-filled abscesses, 
so-called weeping wounds that never seem to heal.

In their more modest forms, staph infections lead to boils, pimple-like 
infections around hair follicles and, usually in kids, impetigo, 
honey-coloured blisters around the mouth or nose. If staph bacteria get into 
the bloodstream they can cause sepsis, infection of the blood that can harm 
crucial organs; sometimes they lead to food poisoning and toxic shock.

For external cuts and scrapes, there is debate in the medical community on 
how to treat them: Some doctors don't recommend using antibiotic creams as a 
rule because, they argue, these can lead to more drug-resistant bacterial 
strains developing over time and affecting larger numbers of people.

For years, methicillin has been the antibiotic most commonly used to fight 
staph infections. But several strains are now resistant to it.

Conly urges family doctors to test open sores for the presence of 
drug-resistant bacteria so the appropriate medication is prescribed. Doctors 
are also urging people — and sports teams — to wash their hands more often 
and take greater care of their equipment, communal equipment especially.

Most staph infections can be treated with oral antibiotics. Even the more 
serious resistant strains can usually be treated in hospital with the 
strongest antibiotic vancomycin, assuming the infection is caught in time 
before it has damaged major organs.