Health - MRSA Is Spreading

We've blogged about this before, as our two regular readers know. But it's kind of scary to see the progress of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). The WhatPoo tells us that the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) now estimates that MRSA is now killing more people than AIDS.

"This is a significant public health problem. We should be very worried," said Scott K. Fridkin, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC.

Other researchers noted that the estimate includes only the most serious infections caused by the germ [...].

"It's really just the tip of the iceberg," said Elizabeth A. Bancroft, a medical epidemiologist at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health who wrote an editorial in JAMA accompanying the new studies. "It is astounding."

[...] Resistant strains of the organism, however, have been increasingly turning up in hospitals and in small outbreaks outside of heath-care settings, such as among athletes, prison inmates and children.

This is the best possible argument for universal health care. If antibiotic-resistant bacteria are spreading and killing the population, we might be facing an epidemic. Epidemics don't discriminate on the basis of class. Even if you homeschool your kids, and build your own gym for your family's use, every time you go out in the world, or let someone into your private enclave, you risk contact with these deadly bacteria.

Stumble It!