Posted on 03/05/2003 3:38:11 PM PST by MadIvan
A NEW strain of the drug- resistant superbug MRSA has escaped from hospitals to infect thousands of healthy adults across the United States, hitting hardest among homosexual men.
The bacterium, which normally affects only sick and elderly hospital in-patients, is striking fit Americans with no links to the hospitals in which it thrives, raising fears of an epidemic that could spread to Britain. The germs, which can withstand many common antibiotics, are transmitted by skin contact, with no need for an open wound.
Outbreaks have been reported in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Boston and Miami. Most of those affected are homosexual men and prison inmates, but athletes and schoolchildren involved in contact sports have also fallen ill.Precise figures for the number of infections are not available, because MRSA is not a notifiable disease in the United States, but public health officials believe cases already run into the thousands, with several deaths.
The disease normally manifests itself as a skin condition, beginning with sores that resemble insect bites, and progressing to cause painful abscesses and boils. In rarer cases, when it reaches the lungs or the bloodstream, it can cause life-threatening pneumonia or septicaemia.
MRSA, which stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, has for years been a problem in hospitals, where it infects open wounds and bedsores, taking advantage of the weakened immune systems of seriously ill or elderly patients.It is named as a contributory cause of death in 20 per cent of death certificates issued in British hospitals where staphylococcal infection was a factor.
The bacteria, however, have never been considered dangerous beyond the wards. The emergence of a strain that is spreading through the wider community, details of which are reported today in New Scientist magazine, has alarmed public health officials on both sides of the Atlantic. Scott Fridkin, a medical epidemiologist at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, said: “We are greatly concerned that MRSA has emerged in the community in people with no ties to healthcare.”
Tyrone Pitt, deputy director of the Laboratory of Healthcare Associated Infections, said that while there was no evidence that the strain had arrived in Britain, it was a genuine threat. “It is very difficult to predict its impact. If it manifests itself just as a skin infection, that is not that threatening. If the result is pneumonia in relatively healthy people, that’s a completely different scenario,” he said.
The Atlanta centre has yet to complete testing to confirm the strain that is spreading in the community, but health officials in Los Angeles said all the outbreaks there appeared to have been caused by a strain first isolated in New York in 1997. Most of the US cases so far have occurred in San Francisco and Los Angeles, among homosexual men who have had multiple sexual partners. The disease is not thought to be sexually transmitted, but as it is contagious through skin contact, sexual promiscuity has an indirect effect on risk. Its effects are not confined to HIV-positive men.
Several prisons in California have reported MRSA outbreaks among inmates, and there have also been outbreaks in schools, particularly among athletes involved in contact sports. In Pasadena 50 pupils at one school were diagnosed with the condition, mostly members of the school’s football team.
On the rise
MRSA: Methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus
First identified: mid-eighties
Recorded UK cases 1992: 104 2001: 4,904
Confirmed UK deaths 1993: 13 1998: 114
Resistant to: methicillin, oxacillin, nafcillin, cephalosporins
Susceptible to: vancomycin
The way I read this is that it probably would, if given the chance. Ref the comments on athletes and school kids (football team). The key seems to be skin contact. Obvious for the queer / fag community but also for athletes (kids, anyone) in contact sports.
Nice to meet you, but your F'n crazy if you think I'm going to shake your hand.
LVM
Vancomycin can be used to treat this. Besides, if it effects "healthy" people then why is it more common in a segment i.e. homosexuals? It should effect all groups equally.
These diseases have been with us in the hospital settings for years but were exceedingly rare outside of a hospital setting. Now they are flaring up badly in non hospital stting in a certain community. It may offend your sensibilities to say what community that is but everyone here knows it. The male homosexual community. There I said it. The practices in this community will spread it to every major city and eventually to the heterosexual community.
It may offend you but it is true. The outbreaks are taking place in homosexual communities NOW. It will affect all of us sooner or later.
Not to mention the rampant prophylactic use of powerful antibiotics to prevent infection from the spectrum of social diseases they expose themselves to. I bet this is where this particular strain originated. I know four different people who have come up with MRSA and resistant strep infections. They all got it in surgery. All of them. None of them passed it to anyone. This is being passed from more than casual contact but it is out there in public now. Not just staph or strep infections but this nasty shit.
Vancomycin resisitant MRSA is relatively rare. You are probably thinking of VRE..Vancomycin resistant enterococcus.
Not quite. The disease in hospital setting has mainly been manifested in surgical situations. There almost always was a skin penetration of some kind. The hospitals were the reservoirs for these bug. Cut yourself in public no problem. In a hospital another story. Now for the first time it is being spread outside of a hospital enviroment in clusters. Where and who by? You don't want to answer these question. Not only that, reports indicate this is being spread by casual contact. Now admittedly slamming some stranger is not my definition of casual but it is still scary. If this shit gets out there in a big way it could be a disaster.
I really wish I knew whether colloidal silver, in the form of commercial or homemade preparations, is effective and non-toxic. There is no question that silver has anti-bacterial properties and is used industrially for that purpose. My own family has used a commercial product and my wife feels it has been effective for chronic sinus infections (and no sign of blue skin, thankfully).
Here is a Rense article about argyria (blue-toned skin with counterpoint).
http://www.rense.com/general12/blueasdf.htm
Colloidal Silver - Will It Turn You Blue?
By Steven Bratman, M.D.
8-17-1
Note - Colloidal silver in the proper size particle and within safe parts per million ratios have been effective against many bacterial issues. Unfortunately, more is not necessarily better and some products have too high a ppm and/or too large silver particles...which can lead to potential trouble...as indicated below. - ed
The metal silver can kill bacteria and is often used for this purpose in water purifiers. Based on this fact, silver- containing supplements are widely marketed for the prevention and treatment of numerous diseases. However, there is no real evidence that such supplements provide any benefit, and they can produce a peculiar and permanent side effect called argyria.
Medicinal silver is most often sold as colloidal silver protein (CSP). In a recent case report, a 56-year-old man noticed a blue discoloration under his fingernails.1 He had been taking CSP supplements daily for 3 years, in hopes of preventing colds and allergies. The diagnosis was argyria, a blue-black tinting of the skin and mucous membranes caused by a build- up of silver. Numerous similar cases have been reported in recent years.2,3
In argyria, silver deposited in the body reacts with the sun through a process similar to that of the development of a photographic negative. This leads to permanent discoloration of the skin. Changes may be seen in the eyes, lips, and nose as well.
The condition was even more common in decades past, when CSP was an accepted medical treatment. Fortunately, argyria is seldom dangerous, although in some cases nerve damage may occur.
Under current law, supplements may not be taken off the market until they are proven dangerous. Thus, it is up to consumers to protect themselves. We advise that you avoid products containing CSP unless you don't mind turning permanently blue!
1. Gulbranson SH, Hud JA, Hansen RC. Argyria following the use of dietary supplements containing colloidal silver protein. Cutis. 2000;66:373ñ374, 376.
2. Fung MC, Bowen DL. Silver products for medical indications: risk- benefit assessment. J Toxicol Clin Toxicol. 1996;34:119ñ 126.
3. Chomchai S, Kim SY. Argyria secondary to chronic ingestion of colloidal silver [abstract]. J Toxicol Clin Toxicol. 2000;38:552ñ553.
Comment
From Bob Travers travers@cwnet.com 8-18-1
Dear Jeff,
The article on colloidal silver was very jaded! Here are some facts:
1. If the pure silver is down to .001 microns in particle size, or smaller, the silver will pass on through our systems with no residuals in organ tissues (other than being used as a matabolite and with other chemical reactions in the body). If the silver particle size is small enough there can't be toxicity in any form.
2. Colloidal silver kills all bacteria given sufficient contact time, that is why we have to replenish the good bacteria in the body after using it.
3. One of my customers (change RO filters once a year, etc) had overdosed with silver for 4-5 years (with a generator that doesn't get particle size down small enough). His is the worst skin reaction I have seen, but one year after changing his intake source and quantity, his skin returned to normal pigmentation.
4. All the skin cells of the epidermis are completely replaced in 7 years.
5. Personal experience...I have been subligating my colloidal silver for a 10 minute duration at night every other day (incubation of bacteria is 24- 96 hours normally, viruses 12-48 hours). Dentists won't like this to get out the to general public....subligating for 10 minutes wipes out all the bacteria trying to exist in between teeth and gums. I needed a root canal 3 years ago and the pain was killing me...when I remembered the research paper I read (dated 1906) that stated silver needed 6 minutes of contact time to stop the respiration cycle of the bacterium.
People don't need to suffer from cavities again if they do a preventive program with colloidal silver. Within 15 minutes of my first time subligating for 10 minutes - 3years ago - the tremendous pain that I felt with every heartbeat was gone forever. I have been taking it for over 5 years and have not had a common cold or flu bug...although it (CS) doesn't work against all viruses and microorganisms. But what a blessing to human kind if we can kee it from being suppressed again...like it was in 1938.
Take Care & Peace be with you,
Bob Travers
Chico CA MainPage http://www.rense.com
This deception promotes more widspread concern in the hopes of developing more support for control of the disease which would probably be dismissed as nothing more than an anticipated consequence of aberrant behavior if it's modal vector were emphasized.
Its called expanding the base.
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