[UK Royal] Marine killed by scratch and superbug

[Roland99]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1625253,00.html

A SUPERFIT Royal Marine collapsed and died within days of scratching his leg on a bush while on a training run — victim of a mutated superbug one doctor described as the worst she had ever seen.

Richard Campbell-Smith, 18, fell victim to pneumonia caused by a rare strain of bacteria that produces a lethal toxin that kills white blood cells.

A microbiologist who gave evidence at the inquest into his death yesterday said that she had come across two such cases since December but none in the previous 15 years.

Marina Morgan, of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, said that although cases of the toxin Panton-Valentine leukocidin were still rare, it was difficult to detect, even during post-mortem examination, and many cases might be slipping through.

[bluestateguy]

1. Could we find out what that plant looked like?

I'd like to know what it looks like so I can avoid it.

[ret5hd]

2. it wasn't the plant that caused this...

the plant merely scratched the skin, giving the 'superbug' an opprotunity to infect.

could'a just as easily been a garage door, or a cat, or anything else. the important part is the pathogen being present.

[sam sarrha]

5. but was the plant a 'Bu$h'..do we have a super Turd with a super bug ??

Bu$h does have the Fecal touch....

[rodeodance]

6. well, if this superbug is just laying around on plants--that is not

good either!---the question is --where else is laying around ready to get swouped up??

[xultar]

3. No shit. Best question on this issue to date I'm sure. n/t

[rodeodance]

4. cases found in America and other places. Bad bad bug.

.....Cases of the toxin have been reported in America, France, Australia and the Far East andDr Morgan described the staphylococcus infection as the worst she had encountered.

Mr Campbell-Smith’s grandmother, Edwina Fooks, said that the teenager was extremely fit and 28 weeks into his 32-week course at the Royal Marines’ Commando Training Centre in Lympstone, Devon, when he was taken ill.
.........The infection spread to Mr Campbell-Smith’s lungs, causing pneumonia which is fatal in three out of four cases. Dr Morgan said: “PVL is an horrendous toxin because it kills white blood cells so they can’t kill the bug.

“It is the worst bug I have ever seen and people really need to know about it. It is untreatable. It multiplies very quickly. One bug will multiply into 17 million within 24 hours. Usually signs include pneumonia, coughing up blood and very high temperatures, but not everyone will look for it.

[Roland99]

7. "One bug will multiply into 17 million within 24 hours."

:scared:

[ret5hd]

8. that works out to about a doubling every hour...

2 to the 23rd = aprox 17,000,000

[phantom power]

9. That by itself isn't so unusual.

Lots of bacteria can multiply that fast, in a warm moist environment like a human body. It's the toxin that makes this deadly.

[DulceDecorum]

10. MRSA?

(Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)