A new study that has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine states that skin infections are more than ever becoming resistant to drugs .
Gregory Moran the lead author of the study, who is with the Olive View-UCLA Medical Centre, says, “MRSA, has become the leading cause of such infections seen in hospital emergency rooms.” He further mentioning that, it now accounts for 59% overall of skin infections,” he stated that the statistic signify quite remarkable a change. He said, “Five or six years ago, it would have been almost impossible to find MRSA among these types of patients.”Statistics have shown that, earlier MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) was only reported in hospitals and nursing homes, but, according to the confirmatory findings of the study, it has emerged outside those surroundings. Moran while stating that this so-called community-associated MRSA strain is not related to the hospital infections, said, “They are different strains genetically. The community strains fortunately are more susceptible to antibiotics. So we do have a few more options in terms of treating the community MRSA strains compared to the hospital ones.” He also explained that the community strain do however appear to be more forceful and is likely to cause more infection.
Explaining that good, clean physical hygiene is the most effective preventive measure, against the spread of MRSA from person to person, he said, “Frequent hand washing, cleaning all shared equipment, trying to avoid sharing towels, razors, sports equipment those things whenever possible. Anybody who does have a skin infection should keep it covered so that they are not exposing other people.”
Moran was however of the opinion that further studies are required so as to determine which antibiotics could be most effective against community-associated MRSA and to track over the time as to whether the resistance to antibiotics transforms within the strain.
