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Monday, June 28, 2010

Kids and MRSA: Combination spreading fast

Via Philly Burbs :

" The biggest problem health providers see is reoccurring staff skin infections.

U.S. hospitals have experienced a ten-fold increase in children hospitalized with highly contagious and drug resistant staph skin infections. The trend is reflected in local emergency rooms, where officials say kids often outnumber adults who are sickened by the persistent super bug.

Equally worrisome, the new study found growing concern the bacteria are developing resistance to one of the main antibiotics used to treat the infections.

Doctors also say they're seeing the skin infections more frequently in healthy children without the traditional risk factors, such as involvement in contact sports.

"I see it all the time in my office," said Dr. Steven Shapiro, chairman of pediatrics at Abington Memorial Hospital.

Researchers found that among children, infections involving methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA, jumped from two to 21 cases per 1,000 hospital admissions between 1999 and 2008, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics.

Doctors believe the infection is spreading more rapidly among children than adults because they often have more direct physical contact with each other. The constant contact also raises the risk of re-infection, Shapiro and others said."

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