Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Medicine Resistant Infections Now More Common

...It’s the type of thing that has mothers playing the I-told-you-so card - medicine-resistant infections that could have been stopped with some soap and water....

...Causing MRSA infections are common bacteria - called staph - that live on the average person, mainly inside the nose.

The CDC estimates the bacteria lives on as much as 30 percent of the population. It’s the main culprit behind pimples and boils....

...Simple measures to prevent infections:...

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A House For Noel

...Lochan, the 20-year-old Princes Town resident who was discovered by the Police last year in a dark room of his family’s home covered in large and painful boils, met with Health Minister John Rahael at the Health Ministry’s...

....Last year, on hearing of the young man’s plight, Rahael had offered medical assistance and to date, Lochan has received over 15 surgeries to correct the damage caused by the boils. He also provided him with a temporary job as a handyman at the Indian Walk Health Centre, that he says...

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The Risks Of Spa Treatments.

...Before you plunge into a mineral bath, get kneaded like a ball of dough, or indulge in any of the other countless treatments available today, you should know the risks involved....

...Poor water quality can translate into a breeding ground for bacteria. Indeed, outbreaks of community-acquired infections from spas have occurred.

In one such outbreak, more than 115 nail salon patrons contracted severe skin boils from a series of contaminated whirlpool footbaths used as part of the pedicure procedure.

The boils resulted from a fast-growing form of bacteria called Mycobacterium fortuitum. Of the 61 clients that investigators tracked, most required a four-month course of antibiotics.....

...In spite of the potential health risks of spa treatments, most people who frequent them report positive experiences..

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Skin Changes May Indicate Diabetes

....Does diabetes have anything to do with hair loss and change of skin texture.

I was diagnosed as having an early stage of non-insulin dependent diabetes about two years ago and am on medication with regular assessment of my condition. But since the last nearly one year, I’ve noticed my hair....

....In fact many a times diabetes is first diagnosed by a dermatologist due to certain skin diseases called skin markers of diabetes.

These includes recurrent folliculitis (boils), itchy dry skin, diabetic bullae, skin tags, acanthosis nigricans (dark skin around neck, back of finger) etc. There are no...

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Friday, December 23, 2005

Drug-Resistant Bacteria Spreading

...Emergency room doctors gave the 20-month-old girl with strawberry-blond hair standard antibiotics to treat a high fever and mild rash that looked like windburn. Then they sent her home....

...The bacteria that aren't killed reproduce and create more drug-resistant bacteria.Williams said many healthy people are carriers, but the exact numbers aren't known.

He noted that a Vanderbilt study found that the number of Middle Tennessee children carrying MRSA increased nearly tenfold from 2002 to 2005. Out of 500 children studied in 2002, 1% had the bacteria in their noses vs. 9.2% in 2005....

..."The message is if you see something that looks like a spider bite, think MRSA."...

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Monday, December 19, 2005

New Data Highlight TYGACIL (tigecycline) In Vitro Activity Against Resistant Gram-Negative and Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase-Producing Bacteria

...While much has been reported on the rising rates of Gram-positive organisms, such as methicillin -resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), there is increasing concern throughout the global medical community over resistant Gram-negative organisms...

...TYGACIL is indicated for the treatment of adults with:

Complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI) caused by Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis (vancomycin-susceptible isolates only), Staphylococcus aureus (methicillin-susceptible and -resistant isolates), Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus anginosus grp. (includes S. anginosus, S. intermedius, and S. constellatus....

...TYGACIL provides clinicians with a novel, expanded broad-spectrum antibiotic option that can be used at the onset of treatment when the specific bacteria present are not yet known. In addition, TYGACIL does not require dosage adjustment in patients...

New Data Highlight TYGACIL (tigecycline) In Vitro Activity Against Resistant Gram-Negative and Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase-Producing Bacteria..Read More

Wrestlers Infected With Staph

...A Southern Arizona high school wrestling team was exposed to a staph infection earlier this month, prompting area schools to get serious about prevention of the dangerous bacteria....

...Staph infections are caused by a Staphylococcus bacteria and may result in lesions and boils. Some strains can be deadly....

...Infection begins on the skin, triggering inflammation, boils or nasty abscesses and if MRSA moves to the bloodstream, it can cause bone infection, toxic shock, pneumonia, organ damage and death...

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Thursday, December 15, 2005

Soap Making For Skin Boils

....You take the greasy animal fat from the bottom of a cooking pan. You add the grimy wood ash from the fire below. You mix them together and use the resulting goo to clean yourself....

...We know that the ancient Romans used soap because it's mentioned in several of their books," says Nina Hall. "But they didn't use it to wash their bodies, but instead used it as an ointment to treat skin diseases. And in fact, a soap making factory was discovered in the ruins of Ancient Roman Pompeii, which was destroyed by a volcano in AD 79....

...What's happening when we use one of these plants is that the saponins make a foam when mixed with water, and this lifts off dirt and grease," says Griggs...

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FDA Approves Avelox for Abdominal Infections

....The indication covers abscesses caused by E. coli, Bacteroides fragilis, Streptococcus anginosus, Streptococcus constellatus, Enterococcus faecalis, Proteus mirabilis, Clostridium perfringens, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, or Peptostreptococcus species, the company said. The drug is available in both tablet and IV formulations....

...The overall success rate was 79.8% for the single-dose Avelox group versus 78.1% for the piperacilin-tazobactam group, Schering-Plough said...

FDA Approves Avelox for Abdominal Infections..Read more

Friday, December 09, 2005

Invasion of the 'spiders'

....IT STARTS AS A SMALL PIMPLE, usually dismissed as a harmless zit. Within several days it may be several inches across. By now it is red, hard and painful, and the hurt goes deep below the skin. Almost every patient assumes it's a spider bite.

And almost every patient is wrong......

....In the pre-antibiotic era, staph infections could be as dangerous as cancer and a lot quicker. The teenage son of President Calvin Coolidge developed a blister on his foot playing tennis one day at the White House. The blister broke and developed into a staph infection. A week later he was dead.....

....Perhaps two-thirds of the abscesses we see now are caused by MRSA. Today we treat with drugs like sulfa and tetracycline ancient antibiotics that only work because no right-thinking physician would ....

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Superbug That Eats Flesh Is On The Loose

.....Infection begins on the skin, triggering inflammation, boils or nasty abscesses that can take weeks of treatment to stop — including surgery and hospitalization. But if it moves to the bloodstream, mersa can cause bone infection....

....What is significant is that we are seeing lots of healthy individuals from the community who have developed severe skin disease, with more and ....

....Though mersa warnings have been sent out by federal and state health officials, Elliott, an infectious-disease specialist, still gets calls from doctors around Tucson asking about strange spider-bite cases that don't respond to treatment.....

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