Published Date: 2001-05-17 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/EDR> Staph. aureus, MRSA, imported - Canada ex UK
Archive Number: 20010517.0960
STAPH. AUREUS, MRSA, IMPORTED - CANADA EX UK
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See Also
1999----
Staph. aureus, MRSA - UK (Wales, W.Midlands) 19991107.1997
1998
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Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA prevalence - Canada 19980318.0512
Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA prevalence - Canada (02) 19980319.0525
1997
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Methicillin-resistant _Staphylococcus aureus_ - Canada 19970320.0586
Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 17:36:12 -0400
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Subject: MRSA imported - Canada ex UK
Source: The Ottawa Citizen, 17 May 2001 [edited
Ottawa hospitals have been hit by about 50 cases of a hospital-borne
bacterial infection that can be deadly.
The Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital is the hardest hit, with 35 cases
of a new strain of MRSA (methicillin-resistant _Staphylococcus aureus_)
brought in by a patient from the United Kingdom. But the good news is that
the infection is not as lethal as the more virulent strains that are
expected to claim 8000 lives in Canada this year.
Doctors say this strain can be treated with antibiotics.
"We've had this so-called superbug MRSA since 1990 and we've been
struggling with clusters here and there. We control it and then it comes
back to haunt us," said Dr. Virginia Roth, director of the Ottawa
Hospital's infection prevention and control program.
"This is not a scary superbug. I'd like to reassure the community that MRSA
does not pose a risk to the general population and, within the hospital, we
are taking standard procedures we always take when we see MRSA to make sure
we protect our patients."
Of the 35 cases at the Civic campus, 10 are patients. Even though they have
the organism in their bodies, they have not developed full-blown MRSA. So
they are being treated with antibiotics to make sure it doesn't flourish.
The 10 are spread over 5 wards but plans are afoot to isolate them in one
ward to prevent contact with other patients.
Visitors, nurses and other staff who go near them have to wear gowns and
gloves. The remaining 25 have been treated with antibiotics or let go
because they weren't considered a danger.
Dr. Pierre Soucie, chief of staff at the Sisters of Charity Health
Services, which runs the Elisabeth Bruyere Health Centre and the Saint
Vincent Hospital, said they've had about a dozen cases and only 2 or 3 are
hospital patients. Dr. Soucie said because the new antibiotics don't always
work, the best defence for hospitals is vigilance. Stringent isolation of
people with the disease is enforced until they leave hospital, he said.
The Queensway-Carleton Hospital has had 7 cases this year, and one of the
patients is in isolation at the hospital, said Inez Landry, director of
infection control.
And Peggy Dennis, infection control coordinator at the Children's Hospital
of Eastern Ontario, said the hospital has had one case of MRSA this year.
Doctors say the most vulnerable people in an outbreak of MRSA are sick
patients whose immune systems are weak.
Most hospital infections are caused by bacteria, the most lethal being the
"superbugs" such as MRSA. These bacteria cause skin and wound infections,
pneumonia, bronchitis and blood poisoning. Superbugs get their name from
their resistance to most antibiotics.
Hospital-based infections have become such a menace that more than 8000
Canadians are expected to die from them this year. In the United States,
there are 60 000 to 80 000 deaths a year, according to the U.S. Centres for
Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Roth said most people carry these infections but don't get sick and
never know they have them. And they don't pass the infections to other
people as they go about their everyday lives. The danger occurs when one of
these carriers ends up in a hospital and passes the infection to another
patient. That is why these infections don't pose any particular danger to
the population at large, she said.
The latest outbreak in Ottawa coincides with the release of a new drug that
some say is the ultimate answer to antibiotic resistant infections.
Health Canada has approved Zyvoxam, described by its manufacturers as the
first new class of antibiotics introduced in Canada in 30 years.
Manufactured by Mississauga-based Pharmacia
Canada, it has been effective in clinical trials in Canada on patients with
severe bacterial infections that resisted several antibiotic treatments,
including vancomycin, until now the drug of last resort.
"The availability of Zyvoxam will provide new treatment options for serious
and difficult-to-treat infections," said Dr. Lionel Mandell, professor of
medicine at McMaster University in a release from Pharmacia. "In my
experience as a clinical investigator working with Canadian patients, this
new antibiotic has proven to be both safe and effective."
Dr. Roth said the drug is one of several new ones on the market to fight
MRSA, and "we need all of them."
[Byline: Mohammed Adam
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
Zyvoxam (Zyvox) is a new oxazolidinone antibiotic active against a number
of Gram positive bacteria that is reported to act by preventing formation
of the 70s ribosomal initiation complex and blocking protein synthesis.
Useful information can be found at the manufacturers website at
<http://www.zyvox.com/health_pro/index.htm> - Mod.ES
......................................jw/es
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