A Super Superbug??

entwisi · 24-05-2005, 18:05

Just seen on the news about the healthy 18 year old who scratched his leg on marine training and died within days. This is a virus that effectively floods your body with toxins that shut down your heart and lungs.

Pretty scary really.

staggeringman · 24-05-2005, 18:18

going back a few years i was told that a chap that lived on our street died when he scratched himself on a blackberry bush? its weird that things happen to some and not others inn-it.

Margaret Pilkington · 24-05-2005, 21:02

Don't get too scared Entwisi........your chance of getting this is really quite remote.
It is a bacterium known as Staphylococcus Aureus. 30% of people carry this bacteria on the skin, usually under your arms and in your groin areas.......it is also present in the nose too. It is a commensal, that means it doesn't produce any illness UNLESS it gets into your body through a cut or an abrasion......then it can cause problems.
Impetigo,furunculosis(boils) cellulitis and Toxic Shock Syndrome are all caused by Staph Aureus.
There are a number of strains of Staph Aureus......fewer than 5% will have the toxic effects of the Panton Valentine Leukocidin.......which is what is thought to have caused the death of this fit young man. This strain of Staph aureus produces a cellular toxin which overwhelms the body in a very short space of time.

Margaret Pilkington · 24-05-2005, 21:03

Oh...... I forgot to say that 75% of the people affected by this strain will die.

Hope that has cheered you up a bit.

cashman · 24-05-2005, 22:05

cheers your a real bundle of fun margaret,lol

Margaret Pilkington · 25-05-2005, 15:22

Well......all I'm saying here is that you don't need to blow the dust off your insurance policies.

lazeeboy · 25-05-2005, 15:54

Well Margaret, how did you get to know so much.
Mind boggles.

Neil · 25-05-2005, 16:38

It's the Methicillin and Vancomycin resistant strain's of Staphylococcus Aureus that worry me.
I am going into hospital on tuesday so this thread really has cheered me up.
Thanks.
Not.

Margaret Pilkington · 25-05-2005, 18:32

Lazeeboy.......I'm a retired health professional.
Neil just make sure that folks wash their hands......and take in some antiseptic wipes for the locker top.......having said that most of the nurses that I know carry around alcohol gel to clean their hands with.
Hope whatever you are having done is straight forward and that you get well soon.

Younger fit folk don't tend to be so much at risk.........and before you say that the Marine was young and fit.......he was the exception to the rule........and it was a very uncommon occurence. He was probably carrying that bug around with him and if he had not grazed his skin on the gorse bush he would probably still be alive.

park381 · 25-05-2005, 18:40

Wow, Margaret that was some explanation, You'll not find me lookin for my golf ball in the gorse bushes ever again

Debbie J · 25-05-2005, 18:44

It is scary though. There seems to be a lot more people catching these superbugs lately.
good luck Neil hope you have a speedy recovery

Margaret Pilkington · 25-05-2005, 19:01

Another thing about Staph Aureus is that something like 30% of the population carry this organism on their skin........so the increase in visitors, visiting times and the fact that patients move around the hospital......to the cafeteria etc means that the bug can travel.

When I first started nursing it was unusual for patients to leave the ward for anything other than diagnostic tests.......visiting was twice a day.......45 minutes each time......there were only ever 2 visitors to a bed.........and patients took a bath before theatre (so if THEY were carrying the Staph Aureus there was some chance that a bath would remove it......albeit temporarily) These days nurses can suggest that patients bathe, but cannot enforce it.......more and more surgery is being done on a day case basis and if a patient says they have had a bath or a shower then the nurse will accept this.
So there is far more to the MRSA debate than meets the eye.

In the Blackburn Hospitals there is a well developed Control of Infection team who do monitor infection rates........and advises on good practice.

vorlon24 · 25-05-2005, 19:07

Does that work then?

All you hear about (between Big Brother) is the next case of MRSA. Lesley "Jackie Stallone lips" Ash has been on the telly about it recently

Margaret Pilkington · 25-05-2005, 19:09

Does what work Vorlon......?

Margaret Pilkington · 25-05-2005, 19:16

They keep talking about bringing back the Matron.......but this is a problem that is multi-faceted........and needs to be approached as such.

In the days when Matrons word was law the structure of nursing was different.......the junior nurses did lots of the cleaning jobs......it was the first year student or the cadet who would be given the job of cleaning the locker tops.......we did an awful lot of what was called damp dusting........scrubbing the stainless steel bedpans and cleaning out the ceramic sputum pots.
Things were vastly different.........if Matron said 'jump'......you asked 'how high and how long do you want me to stay up' the student nurses of today would not accept this kind of treatment.......nor should they.