South Texas was one of the first regions of the country to experience CA-MRSA and has since become a hot bed for the infection.
"We've seen that MRSA working in the community is much more virulent," says Jaime Fergie, MD, Director of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas.
A 2004 study indicated the rate of patients with CA-MRSA increased from five per 10,000 patients in 1999 to 360 per 10,000 in 2004. Additionally, 628 cases were identified in 2006 and, to date, 281 cases in 2007.
Previously the disease was found more as an infection in health care facilities or nursing homes. Recently it's mutated and become a more virulent contagious "super bug" is stronger and it's in the community.
Some severely infected children are requiring multiple surgeries including orthopedic, cardiothoracic, and drainage procedures to get rid of the infection. Thankfully for the children and their panicked parents most infections are easy to treat with a simple incision and drainage, and use of stronger antibiotics. The New England Journal of Medicine states MRSA is the most common identifiable cause of skin and soft-tissue infections in emergency rooms nationwide.
Commonly referred to as "community staph," the infection's bacterium enters the body through skin wounds and appears as a boil or abscess sometimes mimicking a spider bite. It can also invade the blood stream infecting bones, joints, muscles and lungs. Most children present symptoms of skin and soft tissue infections, but some develop life-threatening conditions, and a few have died.
"Although potentially deadly, CA-MRSA can easily be prevented by diligent hand washing and good hygiene," Fergie said.
