Landstuhl doctors say MRSA is no ‘superbug’

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Landstuhl doctors say MRSA is no ‘superbug’
By Steve Mraz, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, November 24, 2007

LANDSTUHL, Germany — Every year, a particular infectious disease or “bug” comes along that grabs the public’s attention and becomes a household word.

In recent years, West Nile Virus and the Ebola virus entered the popular culture lexicon. Last year, bird flu became a hot topic, but methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus — better known as MRSA (pronounced “mer-sa”) — currently reigns as the disease du jour.

In October, a student at Vogelweh Elementary School in Kaiserslautern was infected with MRSA, treated at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and released with a clean bill of health. The student returned to school, but officials did not immediately notify other parents of the occurrence, drawing some ire.

Earlier the same month in the United States, a seventh-grade student in Brooklyn and a high school senior in Virginia died from MRSA. The ensuing buzz had dozens of U.S. schools temporarily closing for deep cleanings.

MRSA is a staph infection that is resistant to certain antibiotics and normally appears in the community as a skin infection. Because of its resistance, MRSA has been called a “superbug.”

Doctors at Landstuhl maintain that referring to MRSA as a “superbug” is an exaggeration and that closing schools for deep cleanings in an effort to prevent MRSA infections is of little value.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50489