First Case Of MRSA Bug Found In Bangkok

[george]

First case of MRSA bug found in Bangkok

BANGKOK: -- The first case of a mutated bacterium that American doctors fear more than Ebola has been isolated in Bangkok, experts said yesterday.

The case was identified in a 33-year-old male psychotic patient admitted to Tak Sin Hospital about seven months ago with a severe skin infection that was extremely resistant to antibiotics.

He was then suspected to have the Community-Acquired Methi-cillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) when a medical laboratory technician familiar with this bacterial infection recognised it and sent his sample for advanced testing by Siriraj Hospital.

In June, Siriraj found that the man had a similar type of MRSA to that in the US, said Dr Chanwit Tribuddharat, an expert with the Department of Microbiology, who isolated this case.

The patient is missing because he was discharged from hospital before the genetic analysis was complete and it was concluded that he had MRSA.

"We have been trying to trace him, yet to no avail," said Chanwit. "It remains uncertain if he's in a psychiatric hospital or at home. Actually, it is not known even from which psychiatric hospital he was sent to Tak Sin."

The isolated MRSA in Thailand was a mutated form of the disease that was still less virulent than the one that has plagued the US, despite their similarities, said Chanwit.

Over the past seven to eight years, MRSA has become a medical hot issue in the States, said Dr Pisespong Patamasucon, a professor of paediatrics with the University of Nevada's School of Medicine.

That was since the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that the bacterial infection came to be acquired in communities rather than in hospitals as in the past, he said.

Unlike the mutated strain commonly found in chronic patients in hospitals, the community-acquired MRSA is far more virulent and easily passed from one person to another.

The new infection is commonly found in young and healthy people such as athletes rather than old patients with chronic diseases and being tube-fed in hospital as in the old strain, he said.

The number of new MRSA cases in the US has been rising steadily due to the high mobility of the new strain resulting in extremely easy transmission through direct contact.

Now about 59 per cent of patients attending American hospitals with skin infections turn out to have community-acquired MRSA, with up to 25 per cent needing lengthy treatment to recover.

The symptoms of the disease range from soft-skin tissue infection to deadly infection in the blood stream and pneumonia.

Patients with MRSA infection in the bone, for example, need to be treated with strong and expensive antibiotics such as Vacomycin, which costs about Bt900 per day, for about half a year.

Pisespong warned that available drugs were not totally reliable due to the high and fast rate of drug resistance developed in the new MRSA.

"And not all doctors know the disease, not to mention the fact that the disease itself is not easy to recognise without a specific lab test," he said, adding that many cases of the new MRSA in the States were misdiagnosed as "spider bites" and the patients were wrongly treated.

It was even more frightening to find out that the new strain could be easily passed by sharing gym equipment with a carrier, said the doctor.

The other groups of people commonly found to have MRSA in the US include prison inmates, children, gay men and fencers, he said, adding that the disease could be carried by humans without symptoms yet could be easily passed to others for up to three years.

Therefore, he said, it was highly worrying that Thailand would follow suit in about five years, given the number of tourists arriving in the country every day.

"What do those tourists love about Thailand? A must is a spa or massage that could pass the disease to the therapist," warned Pisespong. He recommended that those who work as spa or massage therapists should wash their hands as frequently as doctors and nurses in infectious disease wards.

"It's coming, for sure - the rest is a matter of how well we are preparing to deal with it," said Pisespong.

-- The Nation 2006-11-22

[Pink Mist]

thats it for me, the gym is out from now on

[Ijustwannateach]

Yikes! That's just great- another deadly, antibiotic-resistant disease for which gay men are a high-risk group, and which is easily transmitted in gyms and massages.... the part about asymptomatic transmission is especially worrying....

[ColPyat]

I don't understand why that is worse than ebola.

Ebola has a mortality rate of between 50% and 90%.

There is no vaccine or treatment available for ebola.

And it only takes 7 to 14 days to die.

[britmaveric]

Flesh eating disease?

[ColPyat]

Flesh eating disease?

There are a few highly controlled antibiotics who can deal with it, contain it if not even heal it.

[Ijustwannateach]

What the article actually says is that doctors *fear* it more than Ebola. I would suspect that is because Ebola, despite or even because of its virulence, draws a lot of attention to itself quickly and burns itself out. This disease seems more subtle- hard to diagnose, having a variety of symptoms, and potentially creating "MRSA Marys" [like Typhoid Marys] who transmit the disease for years without showing symptoms. Furthermore, it appears to be able to survive on objects (gym equipment) long enough to infect others.

"Steven"

[ColPyat]

What the article actually says is that doctors *fear* it more than Ebola. I would suspect that is because Ebola, despite or even because of its virulence, draws a lot of attention to itself quickly and burns itself out. This disease seems more subtle- hard to diagnose, having a variety of symptoms, and potentially creating "MRSA Marys" [like Typhoid Marys] who transmit the disease for years without showing symptoms. Furthermore, it appears to be able to survive on objects (gym equipment) long enough to infect others.

"Steven"

George's headline though says:

WORSE THAN EBOLA

[Ijustwannateach]

Well, it probably will be. I don't really have to worry about Ebola on a daily visit to the gym, to a masseur, or simply brushing against another person in normal daily life.

[ColPyat]

Well, it probably will be. I don't really have to worry about Ebola on a daily visit to the gym, to a masseur, or simply brushing against another person in normal daily life.

I wouldn't worry too much, life's too short anyhow.

Even AIDS is nowadays only a chronic desease that can be well managed with the right medication.

Hemmoragic fevers are more worrying though, as they constantly mutate, and there is very little treatment available. Even for dengue, which can be life threatening if it reaches hemmoragic stage, there is no cure other than sitting it out.

And the more primary forests are encroatched upon all over the world, the higher the risk for new strains of completely unknown fevers.

[Ijustwannateach]

I think what the article says is that the "don't worry, be happy" approach isn't going to cut it with this disease... while it may not be a death sentence like Hep. C, it's going to be yet another social worry.

If someone's vomiting infected blood, you can bet I'll stand well back- but what if some completely asymptomatic carrier (like a dermatologist! how ironic would that be?) touches my skin and I get infected? It's harder to see how to avoid that. And 900B/day antibiotics for 6 months would strain even my exalted teacherly budget.

"Steven"

[ColPyat]

And 900B/day antibiotics for 6 months would strain even my exalted teacherly budget.

"Steven"

There is an advantage to be insured in case one needs costly treatment.

[Ijustwannateach]

I think comments about my level of insurance are rather straying off-track for the thread topic.

[cobra]

Unnecessary and over prescribed antibiotics are the core issue.

I only take antibiotics if I'm literally on my death bed, you'd be surprised what a healthy immune system can take care of.

I've seen people reach for antibiotics at the first sign of a sniffle, even take them as a precautionary measure.

[ColPyat]

I think comments about my level of insurance are rather straying off-track for the thread topic.

Sorry, but the topic IMHO is just another scare mongering piece like all the SARS rubbish.

[sunreader]

God hospitals with MRSA are 10 a penny in the UK..hardly gets a mention in the papers.

[pap]

This is scary because it can be easily passed by everyone without them knowing it and it also quickly went from hospital to community. Both of these make it a big worry. Especially in Thailand where massage therapy is literally on every corner.

That means if it gets a foothold under current conditions it will spread very quickly due to its easy ability to move through contact.

The US does not have massage therapy as part of its culture. Combine that with its citizens "personal space" norms and it is unlikely to move as quickly as a place that has no personal space and people are in frequent contact with each other.

I can understand the concern.

[leisurely]

What a load of old women you are. MRSA has been around for years in England (as someone else said) and it doesn't generate this level of hysteria. Everybody has staph aureus in their noses or throats, this normally only becomes a problem when it mutates into the multi or methycillin resistant strain. The reason for the mutation is as someone else rightly pointed out - over and inappropriate use of antibiotics. Where they are available over the counter, as in Thailand, there will inevitably come the day when this rears it's ugly head. The thai mothers at my daughters school look at me as if I am a monster when I say the girls don't get a.b's for things like colds and sniffles. Save it for something life threatening I say.

[crocodilexp]

MRSA on Wikipedia

Yup, it's not a nice disease. It has been around since 60s, mostly in hospital settings in the west. Nothing to panic about -- in Thailand, you're still 1000 times to get killed by a stray motorcycle.

[Oleg_Rus]

Nothing to panic about -- in Thailand, you're still 1000 times to get killed by a stray motorcycle.

let me add to your list:

1000 times - by stray m'cycle

900 times by drunk reach S.O.B.

800 times by food poisoning at SeaFood venue

700 times by moscito bites with dengi while you're out off mainland

600 times by choking your own booze-ignited vomit

500 times by choking your GF booze-ignited vomit

400 times by asking man in brown politely "What are you?"

300 times by pissing on the electric cable where it doesn't belong

200 times by joining US Peace Forces in Iraq

100 times from heart attack trying to make a point at Thai Visa Forum

And what does it mean with the subject ? Yep, bullocks.

[Nawtilus]

I have an itch

[justinnsamui]

MRSA is normally caught when in hospital for a fairly long time with open wounds. On orthopaedic wards in the UK it is rife, wards crammed with patients who are in there too long touching wounds then touching the TV remote or sharing newspapers, books etc. then the recipient touching their wounds, it doesn't take long. If caught, you need to get out of that environment asap and recover at home or someplace else, if you get rid of the virus in hospital there is a good chance that you can contract it again. As far as I am aware, it has only been deadly to babies and the elderly. I had it and got rid of it, twice.