Link: TheStar.com
Antibiotic-resistant staph infections, long a problem in hospitals and nursing homes, are spreading into the community for the first time and could have a major impact on the health system, warns one of Canada’s leading microbiologists.
The superbug — methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) — "is now a huge problem in the United States. If it emerges as quickly as it did there, it will have a major impact on health care spending," Dr. Don Low, chief microbiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital, said at the release of the annual national report card on antibiotic resistance yesterday.
"This is the next big health story. I’ve never seen an organism come into an environment like community-acquired MRSA has in certain locales in the U.S. and it’s becoming more and more prevalent," said Low, who also heads the Canadian Bacterial Surveillance Network, which collected the data.
"It’s in Canada, it’s infrequent to date, we hope it stays that way but it’s important to monitor."
The strain differs from the one found in hospitals, Low said, and is much more difficult to control. The majority of infections are rashes, boils and pimples, but some patients have died of pneumonia or severe soft tissue infections.
