Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog » Drug Resistant Bacteria More Common

August 17, 2006

Drug Resistant Bacteria More Common

Drug-resistant germs more common in USA by Anita Manning:

Drug-resistant bacteria that were rare just six years ago now are the most common cause of skin and soft-tissue infections treated in emergency rooms at 11 hospitals across the USA, a study finds.

Researchers at UCLA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, accounted for 59% of skin infections overall, from 15% at a hospital in New York to 74% at one in Kansas City, Mo.

The finding suggests that doctors should consider drug resistance as a factor when diagnosing and treating skin infections, says Rachel Gorwitz of the CDC, a co-author of a study in today’s New England Journal of Medicine.

This is another sign of the increasing health threat posed by drug resistant bacteria. The problem of drug resistant bacteria is made much worse by the improper use of anti-biotics.

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by curiouscat Tags: Antibiotics, Health Care, Life Science
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One Response to “Drug Resistant Bacteria More Common”

Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog » Bacteria in Food Increasingly Dangerous Says:
October 31st, 2006 at 10:29 pm
The evolution of ultra-dangerous versions of common food pathogens with which humans have coexisted for millennia. E. coli lives in the guts of most mammals. Almost all forms are harmless; some are actually necessary for health…