Staphylococcus Aureus Part 4

There are plenty of available sources for finding out the regulation set of basic precautions any person can take to prevent staph infections. Among them are the most basic suggestions found on the staph infections page of the kidshealth.org webpage. They include washing hands regularly, showering daily, practicing good regular hygiene, and keeping all wounds clean and covered until they are fully healed. You should also use any antibiotic medications and topical creams your doctor suggests. In addition, it is wise to only use towels once when you have an infection and then clean them thoroughly in hot water, or use disposable towels. There are also very informative pamphlets in pdf form online in many locations. One of the best webpages for information of prevention and further knowledge of Staph infections is http://www.doh.wa.gov/Topics/Antibiotics/MRSA.htm.

In other parts of the world, there are countries that have had prevention control policies in their hospitals that have been much more successful than the United States. Although Canada’s healthcare system is flawed in many ways by implementing universal healthcare, they have been successful in some areas. Despite Canada’s vast geographical landscape, research has shown that because they focused on prevention of these infections earlier than most countries, they were able to isolate the spread of MRSA infection. According to Jan Verhoef, author of Stopping short the spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, the numbers are in Canada’s favor. From 1995 to 1999 there was only a 5% increase in the occurrence of MRSA strains of staph infections in Canadian hospitals. This is amazing considering that the percentage in America in 1999 was 40% and Japan had a staggering 80% occurrence. Clearly it is time for everyone to take more responsibility for these precautionary policies, because the spread of staph infections could be reduced significantly. How have staph infections become so resistant and what research is being done to finally eliminate MRSA and other staph infections as a serious medical condition?