Flesh-Eating Strain Of MRSA Reaches UK

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...=feeds-newsxml

Deadly strain of MRSA from US 'has spread to UK', warn doctors
By Lauren Paxman
Last updated at 12:01 AM on 2nd February 2012


The number of potentially deadly strains of MRSA that are easily passed between healthy people, outside hospitals is increasing in the UK, experts said today.

They include a flesh-eating form of pneumonia, USA300, which has spread across the US and is now being seen in the UK.

Dr Ruth Massey, from the Department of Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Bath, said extra vigilance was required around PVL-positive community acquired MRSA strains...

...Dr Massey said there were 1,000 cases of PVL-positive community acquired MRSA in England in the last year, of which 200 were USA300 strains...

[Gert van der Hoek]

Flesh-Eating Strain Of MRSA Reaches UK

Flesh-Eating Strain Of MRSA Reaches UK



First Posted: 2/02/2012

Potentially deadly strains of MRSA that are easily passed between people outside of hospitals are increasing in the UK, experts said today.

Extra vigilance was required around MRSA strains, including USA300, which has spread across the US and is now seen in the UK, says Dr Ruth Massey of the Department of Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Bath.

USA300 is a deadly strain of the superbug which can lead to a flesh-eating form of pneumonia, and passes easily through skin-to-skin contact.

It is resistant to treatment by several front-line antibiotics and can cause large boils on the skin. In severe cases, USA300 can lead to fatal blood poisoning or a form of pneumonia that can eat away at lung tissue.

Dr Massey said there were 1,000 cases of PVL-positive community acquired MRSA in England in the last year, of which 200 were USA300 strains.

"These community-acquired strains seem to be good at affecting healthy people - they seem to be much better than the hospital ones at causing disease.

"They don't rely on healthcare workers moving them around, which the hospital ones seem to."

Dr Massey said USA300 was "causing huge problems in America and is being reported here increasingly".

She added: "It's a really big issue in the US and it's starting to emerge here.

"But hopefully because we are aware of it and are working to understand it, it won't become as big of a problem (in the UK)."

In a new research paper published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, Dr Massey and colleagues analyse the way community-acquired MRSAs are able to adapt and fine tune themselves to spread outside of hospitals.

read more - Huffington Post