I've been feeling under the weather lately, and, as I sat in French class, stifling as many sniffles and sneezes as possible, one of my classmates offered up, "Hey, did you know staph infections are going around?"
Gee, thanks. I did; one of my professors has missed multiple classes because of a staph infection. When she came back she told us a horrifying tale of an abscessed cut, surgical soap and disinfectants galore. Eww. So, I did what any responsible, potentially-ill person would do--I WebMD'd it. Apparently, a quarter of the population carries the Staphylococcus bacteria with no problems, but staph infections can range from infected cuts to drug-resistant forms to flesh eating bacteria. Now, I'm not a germaphobe, but flesh eating bacteria? I decided to take a deeper look.
Staph infections have been in the news lately--a drug resistant form, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA, now kills more people in the US than AIDS (16,000 deaths in 2005 to MRSA's 18,650). This superbug is generally acquired in hospitals, but some people have acquired it without a stay in a medical facility. Many doctors blame our reliance on antibacterials and antibiotic overuse.
What are we supposed to do to avoid MRSA? Doctors recommend washing your hands. I guess the tried and true approach is best sometimes. This begs the question (since I have antibacterial soap in my kitchen and bathroom) should I keep using it to avoid viruses spawned by our reliance?
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