http://www.accesskent.com/Health/HealthDepartment/CD_Epid/images/lyme_rash2.jpg
something too keep a eye on in the news, since bird flu has slowed down now. the pneumonia strikes me as a blender into other lung diseases making bird flu H5n1 into the upper lung possable future transfer too person to person transmission.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/infection-spreads-outside-hospitals/2006/04/16/1145126007597.html
Infection spreads outside hospitals
By
Sonja Koremans
April 17, 2006
THE rapid spread of a drug-resistant infection may cause a serious public health problem, scientists warn.
Methicillin-resistant
staphylococcus, or golden staph, has long plagued hospital patients,
and now an equally virulent related strain is infecting people who have
had no hospital contact.
The infection, known as
community-associated MRSA, causes severe boils and abscesses and,
sometimes, life-threatening blood poisoning and pneumonia, a
Queensland-led study, published in the latest Medical Journal of Australia found.
The
study tracked the spread of CA-MRSA over six months last year and
compared the results with similar surveys in 2000 and 2002. The strain
had grown to be "a major clinical and public health problem", nearly
doubling in occurrence from 2000 to 2005, the research found. The study
was led by Queensland Health Pathology Service's director of
microbiology, Associate Professor Graeme Nimmo.
The strain's
prevalence was more marked in Perth, Darwin and Brisbane, and the
infection was acquiring resistance to antimicrobial medicine, Associate
Professor Nimmo said.
Medical treatment of CA-MRSA would become even more difficult in the future, he said.
"The large distances between Australian cities have been no barrier to the rapid spread of the major epidemic strains," he said.
"It's
even possible that more staphylococcal strains will become methicillin
resistant, similar to the spread of penicillin resistance in
staphylococci seen in the latter half of the 20th century, which led to
penicillin resistance levels of greater than 80 per cent."
His
advice was echoed by Associate Professor Paul Johnson, deputy director
of the infectious diseases department at Austin Health in Melbourne.
"We
are likely to see increasing rates of CA-MRSA in coming years,"
Associate Professor Johnson said. "Some of this change results from the
over-use of antibiotics, and some is the inevitable result of rapid
bacterial evolution to which we will have to adapt."
Professor Nimmo conducted the study with scientists from all parts of the country.
AAP
check this out
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol11no10/05-0776.htm
>
At the beginning of April 2005, a 37-year-old woman was admitted to the
University Hospital Policlinico in Rome because of fever, cough, and headache.
Her medical history was unremarkable. She was a teacher in a school for
foreign students in Rome, smoked 3 cigarettes per day for 15 years, and
reported no recent travel abroad. Her 5-year-old daughter had influenzalike
symptoms in the previous week. At hospital admission, her temperature
was 39°C, heart rate was108 beats/min, respiratory rate was 32 breaths/min,
and blood pressure was 105/70 mmHg. Arterial blood gas analysis showed
mild hypoxemia and hypocapnia (PaO2 73 mm Hg and PaCO2
34 mm Hg on room air). Leukocyte count was 24,360 cells/μL (81% polymorphonuclear
cells), and platelet count was 506,000/μL. Chest radiograph showed
infiltrates in the right upper and lower lobes and left lower lobe. Empiric
treatment with clarithromycin and ceftriaxone was started, but the patient's
clinical conditions did not improve. Culture of sputum samples obtained
at admission yielded growth of MRSA. Computed tomographic scan showed
multiple lung cavitary lesions, indicating necrotizing pneumonia. On day
3 of admission, antimicrobial drug therapy was changed to linezolid (600
mg 2 times a day). Fever resolved, and the patient's condition rapidly
improved. The patient was discharged after 14 days of linezolid treatment.
At discharge, leukocyte count was 6,040 cell/μL (58% polymorphonuclear
cells), and arterial blood gas analysis showed PaO2 of 88 mm
Hg.<
Edited by chargingbear - April 16 2006 at 10:51am