Stay Healthy – Keep Out of the Hospital!If you want to stay healthy, stay out of the hospital! Each year some 500,000 patients in American hospitals contract a Staph, (staphylococcal), infection. Staphylococcus Aureus is the most common cause of Staph Infections today. Staph is a dangerous bacteria frequently living on the skin or in the nose of any person. It can cause a range of illnesses from minor skin infections, such as pimples, impetigo, boils, cellulitis, abscesses, to life-threatening diseases, such as Pneumonia, Meningitis, Endocarditis, Toxic shock syndrome (TSS), and Septicemia.
Now there is a super form of this deadly bacteria called Mersa, or the so called superbug! MRSA, Mersa, is an acronym for Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus. (glad they abbreviated it!) Last year, there were a reported 94,000 cases of MRSA reported with 16,000 of those cases resulting in death. On average, ten Americans die every hour from an infection acquired in a local U.S. hospital. That is simply unacceptable! Here's a short story to demonstrate how deadly this In 2003, Marion was rushed to the hospital because of life threatening gastrointestinal bleeding. After giving Marion two pints of blood, hospital staff left an IV line in her arm just in case she needed additional transfusions. A few days later, Marion became disoriented and developed a fever of 105-degree. She was diagnosed with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). Her doctor took one look at the outdated IV line that was still in her arm after six days, and knew the source of her infection. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning of Marion’s hospital ordeal. A week later she developed further complications, including a blood infection due to the IV line used to administer her antibiotics. She was treated with eight different antibiotics to stop the blood infection. Combatting MersaIt has been difficult to quantify the degree of morbidity and mortality attributable to MRSA. Patients who developed a Mersa infection had, on average, 3 times the length of hospital stay (14.3 vs 4.5 days), 3 times the total charges ($48,824 vs $14,141), and 5 times the risk of in-hospital death (11.2% vs 2.3%) than inpatients without the infection. MRSA can be detected in asymptomatic patients by a simple blood test. Combined with extra sanitary measures for those in contact with infected patients, screening patients admitted to hospitals has been found effective in minimizing spread of MRSA in hospitals in Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands. Many people who are symptomatic present with pus-filled boils, and occasionally with rashes. In the United States the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, (in guidelines issued 19 October 2006), cited the need for additional research, but declined to recommend such screening. MRSA lives on the skin and spreads quickly! The main problem is, that over the past few years, Mersa has become resistant to antibiotics. Left untreated and allowed to enter the bloodstream, Mersa can kill. The bacteria is not only dangerous, it's tricky and as we move into the flu season as your risks are even greater, health experts say. The flu virus can weaken your immune system, making you even more susceptible to Mersa. Treatment of MersaClinical studies show that tea tree oil, properly diluted, is effective in treating MRSA skin infections. It is less effective at clearing nasal passages, however. Great importance is placed on proper dilution of tea tree oil because if the solution is too weak, microorganisms can develop resistance to the oil. On 18 May 2006, a team of researchers from Merck Pharmaceuticals published in Nature, that they had discovered an entirely new type of antibiotic, called Platensimycin, and have demonstrated that it can be used successfully to fight MRSA. An entirely different and promising approach is phage therapy, which reports efficacy against up to 95% of tested Staph isolates. Raw honey dressings are also being successfully used for the prevention and topical treatment of MRSA. It has been reported that use of maggots to treat an MRSA infection has also been successful. In a recent study done on diabetic patients, the treatment time has been significantly less than that of other standard treatments. Alcohol has proven to be an effective topical sanitizer against MRSA if used regularly. As MRSA has the capability to survive on surfaces and fabrics including privacy curtains or garments worn by care providers, the need for complete surface sanitation is necessary to eliminate MRSA in areas where patients are recovering from invasive procedures. Vaporized sanitizers reach areas missed by traditional cleaning methods, particularly in ER and ICU units. Ambulances, police vehicles, artificial turf surfaces, and sports equipment are also areas where MRSA can be found. At the end of August 2004, after a successful pilot program to tackle MRSA, the UK National Health Service announced its 'Clean Your Hands' campaign. Wards were required to ensure that alcohol-based hand rubs were placed near all beds so that staff could hand wash more regularly. Their thought was that if this cut infection by just 1%, the plan would pay for itself many times over.
In the USA, reports have been increasing of outbreaks of MRSA colonization and infection through skin contact in locker rooms and gymnasiums, even among healthy populations. MRSA also is becoming a problem in pediatrics including hospital nurseries. A 2007 study found that 4.6% of patients in US health-care facilities were infected or colonized with MRSA. If you love a good workout, Mersa loves you. Until recently, Mersa, or MRSA, was pretty much confined to hospitals. Mersa that has acquired genes encoding antibiotic resistance to all penicillins, including Methicillin and other narrow-spectrum penicillin antibiotics. Stay healthy, wash you hands frequently, wash your towels and uniforms or gym clothes frequently, clean wounds and scratches immediately and don't share personal equipment with friends. MRSA was discovered for the first time in 1961 in the UK, but it is now widespread in the hospital setting. MRSA is commonly termed a superbug. Best advice? Prevention is KEY! Stay as healthy as you can for as long as you can! If you have to go to the hospital, take your own hand sanitizing gel with an alcohol base, make sure bed linens are kept fresh, take several days of clean clothes, ask questions about your IV’s expiration date if you have one, and talk to staff about the deadly infection. Find out what actions they’re taking to prevent it. Also keep contacts with other patients who are not healthy to a minimum if possible, and don’t touch anyone who has an open cut or wound. Wear a face mask if it makes you feel better too. These can be easily bought before hand at any super store. Keep yourself clean too! If you use a public shower, be sure to bring a pair of water shoes you can wear while you’re in it to protect your feet. We all enter a hospital and think we’ll be leaving it. Know your hospital before you go. Make sure it’s sanitary enough for you to stay healthy! Find out more information about Staph here: Related Pages Eat Holistic Foods – Live Long and Prosper! Better Meals for a Better Lifestyles Diet and Health – You Are What You Eat! Keep Your Health and Enjoy More of Your Life! Related Products Natural Immunity Boosting Products
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