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Contact: Stephen M. Apatow
Founder, Director of Research & Development
Humanitarian Resource Institute (UN:NGO:DESA)
Humanitarian University Consortium Graduate Studies
Center for Medicine, Veterinary Medicine & Law
Phone: 203-668-0282
Email: s.m.apatow@humanitarian.net
Internet: www.humanitarian.net

CO-INFECTION: A-FUJIAN - METHICILLIN RESISTANT STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS (MRSA)

8 December 2003: Associated Press, Health Experts Closely Monitor Flu in Children: 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it is particularly concerned about a staph infection that is resistant to
common drugs. One epidemiologist with the influenza branch of CDC says some children have died from the staph infections, a phenomenon the CDC has not seen before. 

Flu complications for children have always been dire: pneumonia, kidney and heart failure -- and possible brain damage. But this year young flu patients have swamped hospitals in some states, and surprised doctors with the severity of their illnesses. Flu and its complications are the sixth leading cause of death nationally among children age four and younger.

• Update of practice guidelines for the management of community-acquired pneumonia in immunocompetent adults: Infectious Diseases Society of America, Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2003;37:1405-1433. See also: New guidelines give specifics for pneumonia care, American Medical Association News, Dec. 22/29, 2003.
• MRSA and VRE: Preventing Patient-to-Patient Spread: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin- resistant Enterococcus are two of the most important antibiotic-resistant organisms that cause nosocomial infections. Rates of resistance among these organisms have increased significantly over the last decade. The reservoir for transmission consists of colonized and infected patients, many of whom have gone unidentified in US hospitals because cultures were never requested for them. Appropriate use of antibiotics, hand hygiene, and decontamination of the environment and equipment are recognized steps to reduce the spread of resistant organisms. Use of surveillance cultures and contact precautions are also very effective ways to control nosocomial spread of these organisms. Salgado, Farr,  Infect Med 20(4):194-200, 2003, Medscape.

• Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA): John Hopkins Healthcare Epidemiology and Infection Control.
• Influenza: A-Fujian-H3N2/MRSA/Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS): Discussion papers, related information.
• Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA): CDC Fact Sheet
• Antimicrobial Resistance Symposium at ICEID 2000: CDC, 2000 Emerging Infectious Diseases Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
• Recommendations for the Control of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA): World Health Organization, WHO/ENC/LTS/96.1, PDF.
• Prevention of hospital-acquired infections:  World Health Organization. WHO/CDS/CSR/EPH/2002.12, PDF.

• Infectious disease outbreaks signal need to think globally: Increased travel, growing antibiotic resistance and resurgence of diseases long thought to be controlled have public health experts warning against complacency, AMNews, 7 April 2003.

• Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: An emerging problem in horses?: MRSA outbreaks in horses and humans in Canada worry researchers. Journal American Veterinary Medical Association, 15 November 2003.

• Flu, staph infection deadly: Theresa Lannetti wasn't worried after the first call from her son, Ricky, a senior at Lycoming College.  "He told me he had a virus, probably a 24-hour thing," she said, recalling the Dec. 2 conversation. It was Ricky's second call three days later - at 4 a.m. - that made Lannetti immediately drive 180 miles from her Philadelphia home to the small Central Pennsylvania college. 12/16/2003.
• Football player's autopsy shows he died of staph infection: WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — An autopsy conducted Monday on a Lycoming football player shows he died of a staph infection, four days after the onset of flu-like symptoms, Lycoming County Coroner Charles E. Kiessling Jr. said. Ricky Lannetti, a 21-year-old senior from Philadelphia, died Saturday evening at Williamsport Hospital, about 12 hours after he was admitted. 12/8/2003.